Into the New World
by thomthom830
Summary: In 1941, the US was dependent on Captain Rogers. But the world had to learn to live without him. 67 years later, he was discovered and thawed out. How will he adjust to 2012? Luckily, he has Peggy's niece, Amanda to help him adjust. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone. It's been soooo long since I've written anything for here. But recently, I was inspired by Captain America and the new Avengers movie coming out in May.

I'm doing research into the Captain America world and learning, but I'm making it my own, too. So hopefully, everyone who reads this will find it entertaining. (fingers crossed).

I don't own any of the Captain America, Avengers, or their storylines. Please don't sue.

Please read and review. It's much appreciated.

Into the New World

"Have you been monitoring his vitals?" a female's voice said.

"Since we got him out of the ice, Doctor," a male voice said.

"But he hasn't woken yet?"

"No. Vitals are strong, though. Off the charts," another male voice said.

"Of course," the female said in a matter-of-fact kind of way. "He's Captain America. He was injected with a 'super-soldier serum' in 1941 by Doctor Abraham Erskine."

"You seem to know a lot of info about this man," the second man said.

"Hawkeye, you know my great aunt worked with him in World War II. This is Captain Steven Rogers and we need him," the female said.

"Amanda, we _do_ know," Nick Fury, the first man, replied. The man in the eye patch grinned at her.

The three of them watched a variety of monitors blinking and beeping, reporting the life signs of Captain America.

The female was Doctor Amanda Carter. She was an agent in the spy organization SHIELD. She worked for Nick Fury and was also the agency's resident physician.

The discovery of Captain Rogers in the North Atlantic was possibly the agency's most amazing to date. When the ship crashed into the ocean 67 years prior, the world grieved the loss of their very own superhero. Without him, HYDRA and its leader, the Red Skull, would have taken over.

Doctor Amanda Carter was Peggy Carter's great niece. And if you didn't pay that close of attention, you would think Amanda was Peggy. She had her aunt's long dark hair and fair complexion. She even shared her aunt's mean right hook. The major difference between the women, other than their age, was Amanda's bright blue eyes.

Her aunt was about 85 years old now. She wasn't particularly thrilled about her niece's line of work, but Peggy certainly liked being kept in the loop of information. And she was going to flip when she knew the Captain was still alive.

"Doctor, he appears to be waking," a nurse called.

The SHIELD team had taken many precautions to recreate his apartment in Brooklyn 1941. Being that it was 2012, they had to do some serious research, then renovations, in a very short amount of time.

"That's my cue, Nick, Hawkeye," Amanda said.

She removed her lab coat and revealed a retro nurse uniform. She grabbed her clipboard and checked her bright red lipstick in a reflective surface before opening the door to Captain Rogers' room.

"Captain Rogers," she said softly as she walked into the room.

"Who are you? Where am I?" the man asked.

The man was visibly confused and upset, yet a flash of recognition passed through his own clear blue eyes.

There was a baseball game being played through a radio on the table by the window.

Amanda surveyed the man who was now standing before her. The t-shirt he wore hid none of his scientifically enhanced muscles. It was hard not to be impressed by his physique…from a strictly medical point of view, of course.

"Captain Rogers, my name is Amanda. And, of course, you're in Brooklyn, 1941…"

"I remember that game…"

"Captain…"

"Because I was there," Steve Rogers said.

Despite the fact that he almost recognized the woman before him, it wasn't the same. It wasn't right.

Steve was panicking. And in an effort to escape the panic, he ran right through the wall of his fake apartment and into the much larger modern facility. The research assistants, security team, as well as Hawkeye and Nick were stunned by his reaction for a moment.

"Captain Rogers!" Amanda called after him, but it was no use; the man was running at his superhuman speed.

"I'll take this one," Nick replied.

Steve kept running. Frantic thoughts crossed through his mind. He reached the outside world. And it was not the New York he knew.

"You can quit running, Captain," Nick said.

Nick Fury had caught up with the Captain at Times' Square. The traffic kept going around them, seemingly unaware of how important this man was.

"My name is Nick Fury. I am the creator and executive director of SHIELD. An agency formed to protect the world from the bad guys."

"What happened?" Steve asked.

"It's 2012, Steve. You have been frozen for the last 67 years."

After a little more explanation, Steve finally agreed to return back to the SHIELD headquarters.

Amanda was waiting. She had changed her clothes, into something more modern, but something much less threatening than a lab coat and suit.

"I believe you already met Amanda," Nick said.

"Sorta," Steve said sheepishly.

"I'm Doctor Amanda Carter—"

"Carter?" Steve repeated.

"Yes."

"I think I need to have my head examined," Steve said, shaking his head.

"Well, we'll make that part of the exams, but I know what you're thinking. And yes, the family resemblance is there."

"So, you're related to Peggy? Daughter? Granddaughter?"

"Great niece. Aunt Peggy never got married," Amanda replied. "And she is going to be so happy to come meet you again."

"She's still alive?"

"She's going to be so pissed that you said that," Amanda laughed.

"I have a meeting I have to get to Amanda, why don't you keep Captain Rogers company?"

Nick bowed out and left Steve and Amanda alone.

"Captain Rogers, we would like to keep monitoring your vital statistics for a while, you know, so we can may be see what Doctor Erskine might have used to create the serum."

"To what end?" Steve asked.

"To make sure whatever Erskine used, well…we want to make sure that it isn't going to have an adverse effect on you," Amanda said. "Since he only had the formula in his brain, it left us no knowledge of what it has done to your body or what it could do."

Steve nodded slowly, understanding what Amanda was saying.

"Of course, whatever you need to do." Steve said, even though he was unsure of what he was saying and agreeing to.

"But first, Captain, we would like to make sure you have an opportunity to make yourself at home here, in 2012. We have a room for you, without a hole in the wall…And, if you're hungry…"

"I'm starved," he smiled.

"Well, then first, let's go get you something to eat, Captain."

"Please, call me Steve, Doctor."

"Only if you'll call me Amanda," she smiled back.

She was beginning to understand why her aunt was so fond of him. At first, he was just Amanda's science project, but now, the look in his eyes, despite having superhuman strength, they said that he just needed a friend.

Hopefully, it was going to be an easy transition into the modern world, but Amanda knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

A/N: Yes, I've changed Peggy's niece's name from Sharon to Amanda. Hopefully people don't mind too much. Thanks!

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone! Thanks to everyone who read my first chapter and to my lone reviewer! Please, please review and let me know what you think!

Into the New World

Chapter 2

Despite the late hour, Amanda had to get Steve settled in his new room and head straight into a SHIELD meeting. A meeting that she was already a couple minutes late for.

She paused in front of the scanner at the door and it identified her as her. The door slid open and she strolled into the room. All eyes were on her.

"Sorry, Steve…I mean, Captain Rogers…"

"So, it's _Steve_ already?" Natasha, also known as Black Widow, said.

"Oh, geez," Amanda sighed. She didn't really need this; especially from this group. But Natasha was one of her best friends, so she tolerated the teasing.

"He _is_ cute," she replied, smiling.

"Can this please not digress into girl talk?" Hawkeye said in an annoyed fashion.

"Oh, be quiet. You're just jealous," Natasha laughed.

"Of what? Being frozen for the last 70 years? I don't think so," he replied. "You're just getting on my nerves."

"People, please," Nick said. "How is he doing?"

"Captain Rogers is a fast learner, Nick," Amanda replied. "I even got him playing Angry Birds on my phone," she laughed. "He was doing pretty well for a bit and then he missed a pig and accidentally broke my phone into a thousand pieces."

Amanda dumped the remnants of her smart phone on the table between the group of them.

"That is fantastic," a smartass voice said from the doorway behind them.

"Stark, you're even later than Carter. We'll need to work on punctuality if this…_Initiative_…is going to work," Nick said. "Take a seat."

Tony did not look pleased that he was being ordered around, but he did as was directed and took the empty seat to Amanda's right.

"So, the strong man broke your phone?" Tony said, pushing a piece of what used to be screen with his index finger. "I'll make sure you get set up with a brand new one in the morning. I have some that have been Iron Man-tested for durability."

"I appreciate that, Tony," Amanda replied.

"Can we get back to the whole point of this meeting?" Hawkeye said. "I would like to actually get some sleep tonight."

"Yes, let's just get down to business," Nick said. "Tomorrow, we begin phase two of the _Avenger Initiative. _Agents Hill and Coulson will be joining us tomorrow at nine o'clock precisely. I want all of our guests to be present and accounted for."

"Including Captain Rogers?" Amanda asked.

"Yes, _all_ of our guests," Nick replied. "Coulson is bringing in the others from the west coast when he and Hill arrive," he continued to explain.

"I'm kind of…_intrigued_…to meet the others. Are they as cool as me?" Tony asked, smiling.

"The world as we know it is being threatened and you're concerned if you're going to be the cool kid at the party?" Natasha asked. "Not that I'm terribly surprised…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony asked.

"I think you know exactly what I mean," Natasha said. "Remember, I was employed by you for a while."

While the meeting was going on, Steve Rogers was tossing and turning in his new bed. It was a really nice room, but he couldn't get comfortable. And after sleeping 67 years, he wasn't exactly tired.

The afternoon he'd shared with Amanda Carter, though, had been an enjoyable one. While she looked very much like Peggy, Amanda was definitely her own person. She didn't explain much about her involvement in SHIELD or Peggy, but she did talk about her medical background as well as the Avenger Initiative. It was a distinct possibility that Amanda was supposed to be selling him on the idea.

It sounded intriguing, at least a bit. The idea that there were more people out there like him had Steve thinking about all of the possibilities.

Amanda had shown him around the house, as well. She kept talking about Stark—Steve knew it couldn't be Howard; it had to be his son—and how he had generously donated his home for the use of the Initiative.

And from how often she mentioned him, Steve thought that she and Stark must have some kind of romantic relationship.

He did feel bad, though. She had let him play some video game on what she referred to as her "cell phone", whatever that was, and in his clumsiness, he let the control over his strength slip and the metal thing shattered into bits and pieces.

He apologized profusely, but Amanda just smiled at him and told him it wasn't a problem. She said things were always replaceable.

To be honest, it had been that smile that distracted him during the game. Amanda had leaned over his shoulder to point something out and smiled as he used some weird bird to destroy an equally weird green pig. Her proximity, combined with her perfume, was when he got distracted and crumpled the small metal object like it was a sheet of paper.

As he lay in bed, he could still smell her perfume on him and he found himself wondering if she was still in her meeting. There was something that drew him to her and it was more than just her resemblance to her aunt. Steve knew he wasn't going to get any sleep, so he decided he was going to explore a little. He stood from the bed and got dressed.

Captain America needed to go for a walk and clear his mind.

As Steve opened his door, a voice greeted him, but there was no one down either hallway.

"Good evening, Captain," an English-accented male voice said. "May I be of any assistance? Perhaps to guide you to your destination?"

"Who are you? And _where_ are you?" Steve asked, immediately on the defensive."

"I am JARVIS. I was created by Mr. Stark. I run this house, among thousands of other things," JARVIS explained.

Steve still wasn't sure what to make of it all. He knew Howard Stark's technology in the forties had been advanced, but a talking house designed by his son? That was a lot to take it.

"Sir, I understand that you were frozen in a sleep-state for over 60 years. I have been working with Doctor Carter to compile a list of tests, physicals, and examinations to conduct—"

"On me," Steve finished.

"Yes, sir," JARVIS acknowledged. "We intend to make certain that you will be able to safely continue on to become an Avenger."

"Good to know," Steve said, beginning to walk down the hall.

"I believe Doctor Carter showed you the kitchen, the dining room and the main floor recreation rooms?" JARVIS said.

"Yes."

"Then let me guide you to our basement floors. We have a gym designed expressly for you."

"For me?" Steve asked.

"Until you are more familiar with modern day equipment, we thought you might be more comfortable with what we have created for you," JARVIS said.

The meeting in the super-secure room was still going on.

"So, how are we going to explain any destruction that occurs?" Tony asked. "It's only been a couple of years, but I've blown up a lot of shit."

"Everyone already knows you're Iron Man. That press conference in 2008 made that clear," Hawkeye said.

"But what about the damage that the Hulk has caused? Dr. Banner has virtually destroyed parts of his hometown," Tony said.

"Let us handle that, Tony," Amanda said. "As long as you don't blow our cover…"

"Yes, Stark, you need to keep our real identities out of the news."

"Speaking of that—no more press conferences—" Nick said in a stern tone.

"What? Why? I like press conferences."

"It's a risk. An avoidable risk. This group is going to get enough press as it is, you don't need to go around holding conferences and having story time. This is a lot more important," Nick explained.

"And this is no longer a one-man show, Stark," Hawkeye said.

"He's right," Natasha agreed. "There are a lot of lives involved. A lot of personalities involved…"

"But it's all one single team working for one single goal," Amanda finished.

"Tony rolled his eyes. "Are you going to have this chat with the big green dude, too? Or am I just special?"

"You'll all receive a variation of the same theme," Nick nodded.

There was a half second of silence and then a phone began to ring.

Tony pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket and looked at the display.

"It's Pepper. I gotta take this. Are we done?" he waved a hand around the room.

The entire group of SHIELD agents nodded.

Tony answered the phone and left the room.

"Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?" Hawkeye asked once Tony was gone. "Stark already can't get along with us, if we add other, for lack of a better word, superheroes, into the mix, what'll he do?"

"Tony Stark will be fine. Every one of the people in this group, including us, we're all headstrong. We've all got something to prove. And while it might be difficult in the beginning, it'll unite us in the end," Nick said.

A/N: Okay…there was chapter 2. I'm planning on including the Avengers throughout the story, but it is definitely going to focus on Captain America.

Let me know what you think…and as always, please review.

Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read this story so far! I really appreciate the reviews, too! Hopefully this chapter is good! Please read and review!

Into the New World

Chapter 3

Captain Steve Rogers was trying to push himself to exhaustion. He wanted to be able to sleep and be prepared for the day ahead. But as he continued to punch; thoughts of 70 years ago kept flooding his brain.

All of the men and women he'd fought alongside were gone. Some might have died in the war, others simply because their time had come. But the result was the same: they were gone.

Other memories were more painful than others. Dr. Erskine, the man who had given Steve a chance, was shot and killed in front of him. His best friend, Bucky, fell to his death helping Steve defeat HYDRA. Steve figured General Phillips have passed away. He was a good man and a good soldier.

And, of course, there was Peggy. Peggy had been amazing. She was the first woman who had shown any interest in him at all before the experiment. He'd received plenty of female attention after the experiment, but Peggy was the only genuine person.

He thought back to the first time he'd met her. She clocked a guy good for making some smart remarks about females in the military. Steve also clearly remembered their one and only kiss. It was incredible, but it was a long time ago.

Steve then thought to when, just a couple of hours ago, Amanda had said that her aunt never married. He wondered why that was. Surely, after a while she would have realized he wouldn't make their date. He hoped it wasn't because of him that she never married.

Steve swung harder at the punching bag. The bag started to swing more violently than before.

Questions began to fill his head. Would he have married Peggy? Would she have wanted to marry him? Would they have had children? By now, Steve would be a grandfather, maybe even a great-grandfather.

But would he actually get older? What _had_ the serum done to his aging process? It had kept him alive in the crash, but to what end?

As he swung one final, very angry time, the door to the gym opened. The punching bag came flying off of its chains and landed in a heap on the other side of the room.

"Very impressive," Amanda said. "We thought we used enough reinforced steel chain when we had that hung up."

Steve crossed the room and effortlessly picked up the hefty punching bag.

"Don't worry; we'll have someone re-hang it later," she smiled. But Steve did not smile back.

'What's wrong, Captain?" Amanda said as she strolled into the room.

"I just have so many questions about, well, everything. I just don't…" Steve said. "And I-I'm sorry for that."

"Like I said, it's okay. And choose a question to start with," Amanda said, climbing onto the boxing ring and sitting on the edge. "I've got all night. I'll answer them the best I can."

Steve stood in front of her and studied her face for a moment. She was being truthful. And she was beautiful; he was going to try not to let it distract him.

"Okay, Captain. Question one…"

"Why didn't Peggy get married?"

To be totally honest, Amanda hadn't figured that was going to be his first question. She knew the answer to it, but she wasn't so sure Steve wanted to hear it.

"Amanda—"

"Um, my Aunt Peggy never married because of you," Amanda admitted. "She told me she fell in love with you and no other man could compare to your strength, kindness, compassion, and character…so she just continued to wait."

"For me?" Steve said. "That doesn't make me feel guilty at all," he said in an uncharacteristic sarcastic tone.

"It isn't your fault, though, Steve. She made a choice. She decided a long time ago that it was easier to live in the past than move on to the future. In all honesty, based on my initial scans, I'm not sure you'll ever age. You would have started a family with Aunt Peggy and you would have out-lived each and every one of them. And it's not fair, either."

"Has she led a good life? Full? Happy?"

"Absolutely," Amanda assured him. "Her brother, my grandpa, came to the United States and married my grandma. And a couple of years later, Peggy joined them in Virginia. They built a very successful business, which includes a hotel and restaurant, among other things. My grandma and Aunt Peggy still run them all. They don't want to let it go to my parents and aunt and uncle, or siblings or cousins."

"Why not?"

"In the words of my grandma: _'because they'll louse it up_'. She's nothing if not honest," Amanda laughed. "That's probably why they get along so well. I mean, I saw Aunt Peggy knock a guy out in their restaurant when I was six because he made some smartass comment. What else would you like to know?"

Amanda yawned. Despite telling Steve she had all night, she was exhausted and tomorrow would be even longer. But she felt she owed it to him to explain things.

"What is SHIELD?" he asked. "And how did you become involved?"

"SHIELD was created by Director Fury after World War II…"

"Right, he said that," Steve said. "Are you not supposed to tell me the details?"

"I was given clearance to answer your questions. I just don't know where to start," Amanda said. "SHIELD stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. We take care of situations that are more towards the 'super' end of things. You're not alone. We are liaisons between the government and superheroes; particularly since the Superhuman Registration Act was passed."

"How did you become involved?"

"Nick knew Aunt Peggy during the war. And for a time, Nick was at Langley and kept in close contact with my aunt. I met him when I was very little, and I guess Nick saw something in me and brought me in for training."

"Why is it that he hasn't aged?"

"Nick Fury was injected with the Infinity Formula," Amanda said. "That's something else that we're researching, but it has effectively stopped him from aging."

"How high are you up in the agency?" Steve asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Amanda replied.

"It seems like Nick really trusts you."

"That is true," Amanda nodded. She didn't really want to answer that question. Despite the fact that she knew that this was _the _Captain America, she wasn't sure how much information about SHIELD he needed on day one.

Steve just looked at her. There was almost no space between them and there was an electric tension between them in the limited space.

"I'm third in command here at SHIELD," Amanda answered.

"Third in command? That's pretty high up," Steve replied.

Amanda was intensely attracted to him, but one, it was a terrible idea to get involved with a superhero, let alone one that had been frozen for the last 70 years. And two, even though it felt like he was sort of feeling the same way about her, she really didn't know. So, she decided to put an end to it, at least for the night.

"I think that maybe that's enough for tonight," Amanda said. She paused to look down at her watch. "It's two in the morning and you and I have to attend a meeting at nine."

Amanda jumped down from the boxing ring and her high-heeled shoes clicked on the hardwood floor.

"I'll take you back to your room," Amanda said.

Steve ran a hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck, and began to follow after Amanda.

A/N: So, what did you think? Please write me a review.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, except for bits of Amanda. Thanks!


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to everyone who has read the previous chapters of this story. Hopefully, you'll all stick with me until the end.

Please read and review!

Into the New World

Chapter 4

Steve Rogers had only finally closed his eyes to sleep when JARVIS alerted him to the time and that he should be awake. It was almost a relief that he would have something else to focus on, rather than the thoughts that were rushing through his brain.

He climbed out of his bed, possibly the most comfortable bed that he'd ever had the pleasure of sleeping in, and opened the door to his own en suite bathroom.

Steve found that the bathroom was fully stocked with fluffy towels, soaps, shampoos, and shaving accessories. There was even a bowl and brush—which was the only piece of equipment he recognized.

Once he was shaved and showered, he made his way back to the bedroom. He walked to his closet door and Steve opened it cautiously. He was very surprised to find both modern clothing-or what he thought must be modern clothing-and clothing that was much more to his taste.

Once Steve was dressed, he wasn't sure what to do next. He decided he was going to wait for further instructions.

Amanda's head pounded as she got herself ready for this meeting. Since she spent the night as the Stark mansion, she was using the bathroom in Natasha's room. And Natasha was extremely interested in hearing about her late-night talk with the Captain. But Amanda didn't want to chat. Particularly since there were some crazy sparks igniting between the two of them.

"You don't want to say _anything _about him…at all?" Natasha asked.

The redheaded woman was standing in the mirror while Amanda was washing her hair in the shower.

Yes, both agents were highly skilled at espionage and all of the conventional forms of martial arts as well as the ones normal people have never heard of, but they also liked to gossip like other regular 20-something women.

"Could we talk about anything else in the whole world?" Amanda asked as she continued to wash herself.

"So, it either went _really_ well, or _really _badly. Just tell me," Natasha smiled.

"It didn't go _any_ way," Amanda said. "He and I just talked. Captain Rogers is so…"

"So what?" Natasha asked.

"He's so genuine. He just genuinely wants to learn this modern world. Steve lost almost 70 years, though. Every single person he knew is gone, aside from my Aunt Peggy."

"Are you going to tell her about him?" the flame haired woman asked.

"She'd kill me if I didn't tell her. Absolutely murder me," Amanda said. "Nick told me I probably should tell her."

"Well, I think it might do the Captain some good."

"I know. Can I tell you something? Oh, never mind."

"What?" Natasha asked.

"It's not a big deal. I probably made it up in my head."

Natasha peeked at Amanda in the shower so she could look the other woman in the eye.

"Seriously, just tell me," she said as she went back to her make-up.

"It's probably that I just look like her, but the way he looked at me last night…it was intense."

"Intense how?"

"Just…intense. Like so intense that I probably should not be involved with him at all. Professionally or otherwise."

Natasha smiled into the mirror. "You _like_ him."

"He's just a nice guy. That's all."

Natasha laughed. "That is not what I mean and you know it. Maybe it's something you should keep in mind. Don't rule it out."

Amanda turned off the water and one arm reached out to grab a towel. A second later, the woman stepped out onto the bathroom rug.

Amanda sighed as a response.

"Seriously," Natasha said.

"Nat, he's a lost puppy. And he hasn't seen my aunt yet, so he's probably still in love with her…"

"Your aunt is ancient. No offense," Natasha replied.

"She's…85," Amanda said as she brushed out her wet hair.

"Your aunt is actually 93. I did some research."

"What?"

"Your aunt would have been 18 when Captain America crashed the ship in the Atlantic. How did you not notice?"

"I just never questioned my aunt's age. She'd punch me in the face or something. She comes from a generation of women who lie about her age, anyway."

"I don't care. I just think its funny," Natasha said. "Hey, I'm going to let you get dressed. I'm going to meet up with Clint."

"Of course. Go see Clint," Amanda said in a sing-song voice; teasing her best friend.

"Make fun of him now, but remember: he saved us that day."

"I actually think it was a combination of him and Johnny Storm, as much as I hate to admit it. Flaming arrows are just more effective," Amanda said.

"Oh, don't mention him!" Natasha said. "It'll just make you think about him and you need to focus."

"I would rather be prisoner of Dr. Doom again. He's a jackass, but—"

"Don't think about the Human Torch. Go back to thinking about your intense time with the Captain. Or you know, our jobs," Natasha said. "Aren't you speaking at today's meeting?"

"Oh, shit! Yes. I completely forgot," Amanda said.

"Well, hurry up. I'll meet up with Clint and we'll take the captain to the meeting. You meet us there."

Amanda nodded.

Natasha left the room and Amanda hurriedly got ready. She checked the clock 25 minutes. She was just going to wing her speech.

Steve was nervously pacing his room. He would have taken himself to the meeting, but Steve wasn't sure where that was.

His room was large, but it felt like he was only taking three or four steps between walls. But when he started to go totally crazy, there was a knock at the door.

Steve opened the door with the push of a button. A woman and man whom he did not know stood outside the door. The woman was dressed professionally, in cream colored sleeveless blouse and black pants. The man was in all black. Neither smiled.

"Hello, Captain Rogers, I'm Natasha Romanoff and this is Clint Barton—"

"Call me Hawkeye," the man interrupted.

"We work with Amanda. She asked us to escort to the meeting, as she is running a bit behind," Natasha explained.

Captain Rogers nodded and stepped out of his room to follow behind the man and woman.

Steve wondered, as he followed them down the corridor, if Amanda was really running behind, or if he'd made her uncomfortable last night.

Admittedly, he knew he was terrible with women, whether he was Captain America or not. But he didn't feel as clumsy or uneasy when he had stood with Amanda. He almost defeated his nerves and kissed her last night; partially because he wanted to celebrate his being alive and awake, and partially because he was just plain attracted to her. And it definitely wasn't because she resembled Peggy. It wasn't that simple.

He'd never forgive himself if he'd made her uncomfortable or upset. Especially on day one.

Steve suspected today was going to be a long day. He was to meet more members, or potential members and that idea made him anxious and excited all at once. He wanted to know that was coming next.


	5. Chapter 5

Into the New World

Chapter 5

Amanda arrived at the meeting with 30 seconds to spare. However, her arrival was unnoticed as the conference room was in what could only be described as chaotic.

SHIELD Director Nick Fury, Hawkeye, and Natasha stood with a sour-looking Coulson and an equally sour-looking Maria Hill. They were watching monitor on the wall and the events unfolding on it.

"What's going on?" Amanda whispered into the seated Steve Rogers' ear.

Apparently, introductions had not yet been made as Thor, Tony, and Chris were sitting far apart and not speaking to one another. And Dr. Bruce Banner was not present at all.

Steve turned his head to look at her and tried not to smile. It wasn't a time to flirt.

"It seems something called 'the Hulk' is on a rampage through the city," Steve replied.

"Damn," she hissed. "I thought Dr. Banner had gotten a handle on that."

She put a hand on Steve's shoulder and then crossed the room to join the group of SHIELD agents.

Nick Fury had called up a map of New York City on the wall and was drawing some lines.

"He's heading in the direction of the Baxter Building. He's already taken out several smaller, inconsequential buildings in his path," Nick explained.

"What set him off?" Amanda asked.

"If you would have been on time, you would already know," Maria Hill said.

Amanda ignored her. "Has anyone spoken with Dr. Richards?" Amanda asked.

"I was just speaking with Susan," Natasha said. "She's going to send Johnny out as a distraction and probably Ben, too. She needs to make sure Franklin is safe, but then she's going to try to protect as much of the city as she can."

"That is much too big of an area for her to create a force field for. Studies on her 'powers' have shown that she can protect a maximum of one square mile," Maria Hill said. "We can't rely on her."

"Gee, Maria, your faith in our teammates is overwhelming," Amanda said sarcastically. "You're so inspiring."

"Oh, please, continue to enlighten us with your sarcasm," Maria said as she looked down to her watch. "You only missed the entire situation developing."

"It's—"

"Ladies, please," Nick said without looking away from his map. "We need to move on this."

"Perhaps _we_ should take care of this," Tony Stark said.

Stark was sitting back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. Despite his fancy suit, the glowing arc reactor showed through his shirt and around his tie.

The group of SHIELD agents at the front of the room turned to look at each hero.

"No, not yet," Nick said. "Hawkeye, do you have those arrows?"

"Yes, of course. Tranquilizer tipped arrows," Hawkeye replied. "Designed to take down Banner…or a giant elephant."

"I think we should assist," Stark said.

"Stark, you'll do as you're told," Maria barked.

Amanda rolled her eyes at Stark when the other woman turned around.

"Tony, you know that we can't let you. We need to bring Banner in. He's supposed to be here at this meeting," Natasha explained, nicer than Hill had been.

This grabbed Steve's attention.

"Whatever this thing is that's destroying the city is actually supposed to be on our side?" Steve asked.

"Due to an error with a gamma ray experiment, Dr. Banner's strength is unmatched when he is transformed," Tony explained.

"So, you three: Natasha, Hawkeye, Amanda, head out now. Help Richards and the others defend their building. Hawkeye, take him down with a tranq. I'm going to call the mayor and the President. Hill, you can do the meeting."

Amanda thought it was a terrible idea to leave these men alone with Hill, but they could probably handle themselves.

Nat and Hawkeye were first out of the room with Amanda behind a beat. Steve stood from his seat and pulled on Amanda's wrist to stop her.

"We all should be going. I want to go with you," Steve said, looking down into her eyes.

Amanda shook her head.

"You heard Fury. Not today. You stay here. I promise I'll be back."

"In one piece," he added.

She nodded and smiled and left the conference room.

Steve took his seat once more and looked over to Tony and Thor.

"Nice one, man," Tony laughed. "You've been unfrozen and awake one day and you've already made a new fan."

Steve felt a blush creep through him, but he sat still, stone-faced, as if he wasn't phased in the slightest.

And all three men resigned themselves to not being invited to the party.

Amanda, Natasha, and Hawkeye were on their way out of the mansion.

"You've dealt with Banner before, right?" Amanda said to Hawkeye.

"Sort of," he said.

"Sort of?" Amanda asked.

"Just tell her," Nat said.

"I had an altercation with Banner once. I dealt with Thor, too," Hawkeye said.

"That was anticlimactic," Amanda said.

"The Hulk pitched him across 74th street," Natasha said.

"What?"

Hawkeye clenched teeth together and a muscled worked in his jaw. "It wasn't a big deal. Can we just go?"

The three of them headed out into the city and it was very clear that they should have gone in full riot gear. It was a disaster. It was going to take SHIELD a lot of hard work to put it back together.

And it was going to take a lot of explaining to the US government and the UN as to why one of the men who was chosen for the Avenger Initiative was destroying a city. Particularly since he supposedly had a handle on the issue.

None of the three of them were jealous of the conversation that Nick Fury was going to have with the President. He was going to have to explain why Banner lost it…again.

They followed along the path of destruction, but Amanda found herself thinking of the look on Steve's face as she left the conference room.

In all reality, they should let Steve, Ton and Thor go, but having Banner, who was running wildly throughout New York City think that they were enemies instead of teammates, was exactly what they didn't want.

"Hey! Focus!" Natasha said as Amanda very nearly fell down into a huge crater. Hawkeye grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Thank you," Amanda said. "Sorry."

"Just pay attention," Hawkeye hissed. "You can have _fun time_ with your boyfriend later."

Amanda tried to shoot him a dirty look, but she was interrupted by something zooming past her.

It went by so quick that she only saw a blur, but felt the heat a second later. Then the street was filled with the Hulk.

The zooming object came past her again, and this time, it spoke.

"You guys might want to take cover," Johnny Storm said.

A piece of concrete came flying instantly up on the Human Torch's suggestion.

"It's clobberin' time!" Ben Grimm shouted as he picked up the same piece of concrete and tossed it back toward the giant green creature.

"Ben!" Natasha shouted.

He came towards them.

"Hey! Do you want him unconscious or gone?" Ben said. The orange man blocked another piece of concrete from connecting with the three SHIELD agents.

Hawkeye cracked the faintest of smiles.

"He's on our side," Hawkeye said.

Johnny blew in again. "Are you sure? Because the jolly green giant over there seems pretty okay with the idea of destroying my building."

"Susie's still inside. Reed doesn't want her doing anything because she just found out she's pregnant again," Ben explained.

"Can you get a clear shot?" Nat asked Hawkeye.

"No, he's moving too much," Hawkeye said. "I want it to connect with the side of his neck."'

Nat nodded.

"We need to move in, then," Amanda said.

"Bad idea," Johnny called.

Johnny zoomed past the SHIELD team again and around the Hulk's head.

"We need to surround him, confuse him," Nat said. "That way he won't see the tranquilizer coming."

Amanda nodded.

They started to fan out and circle the green giant who was still freaking out in the middle of the street.

"What set him off?" Johnny said to Amanda.

"I would absolutely love it if you would fly somewhere else, Mr. Storm," Amanda replied.

"Well, doctor, I was just trying to help," he said.

"Well, go help someone else," she replied. "I'm fine."

Johnny looked at her quizzically for a second, then continued to show off.

It was an awkward dance that occurred next. The very emotional Hulk continued to be angry and throw more things around. He wasn't sure who to focus on.

And Johnny decided to make one more final pass at Amanda.

"How come you don't return my calls?" he asked.

"Is now really the time, Johnny?"

"Why not?"

"This is so not a conversation I'm having with you, particularly right now."

The two of them started arguing loudly and missed what was happening with the Hulk. And before she could make her own escape as she saw something coming at her, something else pushed her out of the way.

Amanda opened her eyes and looked up in to the face of Steve Rogers. Then she realized that she had very nearly been crushed by a falling Hulk.

Johnny Storm was also pushed out of the way by the force of Steve's run and was laying aside, however he was not in the strong arms of Captain America.

"You are supposed to yell 'timber'," Johnny sarcastically yelled at the other SHIELD agents. "You all got this then?" He didn't wait for an answer, though. "Flame on!" he yelled and zoomed away.

To be continued…


	6. Chapter 6

Into the New World

Chapter 6

The unconscious Hulk lay still in a very large, Hulk-shaped cement and asphalt crater. He had fallen very hard, as a giant, enraged creature would.

The immediate area was a terrible mess and so was the entire path leading up to it. But for a moment, everything was still and quiet. Amanda was still in Captain America's arms and she was trying to fight how good it actually felt to be right where she was. They were the only two on the ground, and Steve knew people were looking at them. He was very grateful that he didn't come in his Captain America suit to attract any more attention.

Ben Grimm-The Thing-was moving some other concrete planters back to their original places while Nat and Hawkeye cautiously got closer to the fallen Hulk.

Hawkeye got on the phone. "He's down. We need transport so we can bring him in." He crouched to pull the arrow out of the Hulk's neck.

While he continued his phone conversation, Steve stood up from the ground and held out his arms to help Amanda up.

"Not to sound ungrateful, but what the hell are you doing here?" Amanda asked, forcing herself to back away from the man. She couldn't get involved with him. "You are…"

"Agent Hill received a phone call that she said she had to take and she dismissed us. Agent Coulson went with um, Thor, to get coffee and Stark mumbled something about some work," Steve explained. "I came here."

"I _am_ glad that you did, but Fury is going to be pissed."

"Maybe. But maybe he will just be pleased that you aren't dead and I think that's a good thing," Steve said. "I just wanted to make sure you really did come back in one piece; that thing looked dangerous," he said.

The whole lot of them moved to gather around the Hulk as he changed back into his human form: Dr. Bruce Banner.

"His adrenaline must have regulated in his bloodstream," Amanda said, watching the transformation. "Have we ascertained as to what caused the

She had done a bit of research of Banner and how he had become the Hulk. She was not surprised to find that he had been using Stark Industries' equipment to perform his own research and experiments…most of the stuff SHIELD dealt with led back to Stark Industries.

In fact, the machinery was an upgrade of what was used to make Steve Rogers into Captain America. Banner's experiment was part of another military-sanctioned program to make more 'super-soldiers'.

Amanda crouched down to check Banner's pulse and she realized how much her whole body ached from the tumble she'd taken with Steve. But she tried her best not to show it.

"His heart rate has returned to normal. How long is the tranquilizer supposed to last?"

Hawkeye shook his head. "I have no clue."

A crowd of curious, and grateful, civilians started to emerge from their hiding places.

"We need to get out of here," Nat said, looking around at the bystanders, "before the crowd gets too much bigger. Where's our transport?"

"En route," Hawkeye replied, also focused on the crowd forming around them.

"It isn't that far, I can just carry him," Steve said, brushing himself off. He was a bit scraped up, but he'd dealt with worse.

"No, we need to wait for the helicopter. If that shit wears off, he will very likely be agitated and it could cause more issues," Hawkeye said. "Ben, you can go. Thanks for your help."

"No problem," Ben replied. "And Mandy, sorry about Johnny."

Amanda smiled a weak smile. "Me, too. Give Susie and hug for me. Tell her and Reed I said 'congrats'."

Ben smiled back, nodded, and headed back towards the Baxter Building a couple blocks away from them.

"Where is the helicopter? We can't put him in the van; we don't have the proper restraints for Banner. I don't want to chance him waking up and freaking out again," Amanda said.

Steve nodded. He was going to let them do their jobs and follow their protocol. He was more concerned with Amanda anyway; Steve had seen her grimace as she crouched down to check on Banner.

He pulled on her elbow to get her attention. "Are you okay?" he asked once she turned to face him.

Amanda put on a fake smile. "I'm fine."

"You're limping. I hurt you when I knocked you out of the way, didn't I?"

"No, no, no. I'm fine, Captain," she lied. "Nothing a hot shower won't fix."

"You should get checked out," Steve said.

"I'm a doctor, Captain. I would know if I had any serious injuries."

"I know you're lying," he replied.

The way he said it, he sent shivers down her spine. She blushed and silently cursed herself and her body for betraying her attraction to him. Amanda just wanted it to go away.

Luckily, before the conversation could continue, the SHIELD helicopter could be heard above them and began to slowly make its descent onto the empty street next to them.

"I'll ride with Banner in the helicopter, the rest of you should ride in the SUV," Amanda said.

Steve stepped away from Amanda and over to Banner. Two SHIELD agents emerged from the helicopter and came over to Banner and were quietly arguing over how to move him.

Neither of them seemed to know what to do, so Steve bent down and effortlessly picked up the unconscious man. This time he wouldn't wait for orders.

"Where do you want him?" Steve asked Amanda.

"Um, Captain Rogers, you can put him in the helicopter, on the gurney," Amanda said as he effortlessly held onto the man.

The crowd of people started to get larger and the distinctive flash of cameras started to appear on all sides of the blocked off area.

"Steve, get in the helicopter! Now!" Amanda ordered.

She was going to be in so much trouble with Fury. Pictures of Captain America were going to be in the newspaper and video footage would be on the TV and internet within minutes.

Steve Rogers did as he was told and Amanda followed them into the helicopter. Steve put Banner down on the gurney and Amanda another SHIELD agent began to buckle in the man while the pilot started to lift off.

Amanda finished making sure the man was restrained and sat back in her own seat. She was trying to mentally prepare herself for the reaming that she was going to receive once they returned.

"Captain Rogers, I really appreciate that you came to my rescue, but I think that it would be in your best interest to follow Director Fury's orders from now on," Amanda said after trying some deep breathing exercises. While she was extremely attracted to the man sitting across from her, she'd learned, after Johnny Storm, that it was bad to get involved with the people with superpowers. And besides, she figured that Rogers only was interested in her because she looked like her aunt; and that wasn't enough of a reason to fall in love with someone.

"I am always going to do what I think is right, regardless of orders," Steve said.

Amanda looked up from her feet and into his eyes.

"That's very noble."

"I have just always done what needed to be done, noble or not," he said.

Amanda wasn't sure what to say next. And since she had no idea what to say, she said nothing for the rest of the ride to SHIELD headquarters.

The helicopter landed on the building's own helipad and a team of agents arrived to help move Banner inside.

Dr. Banner was still out from the tranquilizer as the agents and another SHIELD physician brought him in to an examination room. Amanda wanted to go straight to her own home, but another agent, a rookie one at that, was waiting for her and Rogers.

"Fury wants to speak to you," he said.

"I assumed he might."

"He's not pleased," the young man offered.

"I assumed that, too," Amanda said. "Is it on the news yet?"

"Yes, ma'am," the young man replied.

"Shit," Amanda hissed, looking down to her watch. "It's only been twelve minutes."

There were at least ten things she would rather do than talk to Nick and that included shaving her head and having teeth pulled. She was even thinking that being squashed by the Hulk would be preferable to speaking to Nick.

"I'll speak with him," Steve said.

"I can handle it myself, Captain," Amanda said as they were led down the corridor.

"Well, he wants us both, so I can explain the situation. It wasn't your fault that I went."

"It wasn't?" Amanda asked with one eyebrow raised.

Steve really wished the blush he was feeling was not visible on his face, but he knew otherwise. He was just grateful that Amanda's eyes were focused ahead of her and not on him.

The two of them continued to follow the young agent down the hall in awkward silence.

He had no response, and just like her, Steve said nothing instead of saying something totally incriminating and embarrassing.

At the end of the doorway, there was a set of double doors, with a large SHIELD insignia on it. This was Fury's office, and this was where they were going to find out how much trouble they were actually in.

…

Stay tuned to find out how they fared :)

Please review; I love reviews. And I so appreciate all of them that I have received.

Oh, I got one from a reviewer called Georgia…I hope it was clarified later on about Peggy's age…

And I changed Sharon to Amanda for no other reason than I felt like it and took some artistic license. I'm glad that I that no one is too offended; I appreciate it.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Nobody reviewed my last chapter…perhaps it was not good? Anyway, hopefully this one'll be better. Read on…

Into the New World

Chapter 7

Captain Rogers could recall hearing about Nick Fury during wartime. He had become a colonel in the army in no time. And since he was still alive, young-looking, and was now the Executive Director of SHIELD, he must be damn good at what he did and how he did it. That thought did not make Steve feel confident that this was going to be a pleasant meeting.

He glanced at Amanda, who was moving to knock on the door. She looked a little banged up and bruised, but if she were nervous, Steve couldn't tell. Perhaps she had dealt with this situation before.

The door to Fury's office slid open in a dramatic fashion, only turning once he was sure the two of them were inside and right in front of his desk.

"So," he said from his high-backed leather chair now that he was facing the two of them. "Do you think this situation went well?"

Nick Fury was an intimidating man no matter what he was doing. His expression remained calm and collected, yet he still meant all business. Nick waited for a response from one of them.

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Amanda asked.

"Do you think it is?" he replied with a question.

Despite knowing him for years, since she was a child, Amanda still didn't know what to do in some of these situations. She wanted to be a smartass, but knew it wasn't appropriate.

She decided to err on the side of caution. "It could have gone better…but it could have also been a lot worse, I suppose. He didn't make it to the Baxter Building…"

"What do _you_ think, Captain Rogers?" Fury said, interrupting Amanda. He turned his focus to the Captain next to her. "Do you think your presence was warranted at the situation?" Nick asked.

"I think that if I was brought to SHIELD because of my abilities or enhancements or whatever you want to refer to them as, then I think I should be using them to benefit your team. I also think I kept your agent from being smashed by that giant green thing," Steve replied. "I apologize if this has upset you and I want to take responsibility for my actions; I acted on my own. It wasn't Amanda's fault…"

"On the contrary, Cap; I am not upset. I _am_ pleased that Agent Carter was not flattened by the Hulk, although I feel the situation would have been avoided had she not had an altercation with Mr. Storm…"

"No shit," Amanda mumbled under her breath.

"…anyway, I am intrigued as to why you chose to go," Fury said.

"I thought I could help, in some way or another," Steve said. "It was very simple."

"Well, I think you've secured your spot on the Avenger's team. With your record and today's bravery…if you decide you want to, we have a spot for you on this team and in this organization," Nick explained.

Steve wasted no time. He didn't know what else he would do 70 years later. "I accept, thank you," he said.

"Welcome to the Avengers," Nick said. "Now, Carter, Rogers, go get cleaned up. I'm going to find out about Banner." Fury rose from his chair to show them out. "Hopefully that will be the last of the excitement for the day."

"Other than the fact that Captain Rogers, who has been thought dead by the world since 1947, showing up in New York City to help bring in the Hulk being all over TV and the internet," Amanda said.

"It was going to happen at some point," Fury said. "We weren't going to have some press conference to re-introduce him, but eventually people were going to know about him."

"I'm sorry, Captain, I don't mean to talk about you like you aren't right here," Amanda said.

"It's all right," Steve said.

"Okay, let's get going. And Carter, you might want to call your aunt…" Nick said as he walked down the hallway in the opposite direction.

"Oh, damn…" Amanda said. "My aunt," she suddenly remembered.

She pulled her new cell phone from her pocket and read the display.

"I have three voicemails and seven missed calls," Amanda read. "All from Aunt Peggy. I should have called her last night," Amanda sighed. "She's going to kick my butt."

Amanda began playing the messages left by her aunt. She turned on the speaker phone so Steve could hear.

"…I can't believe you neglected to tell me about this…"

The familiar voice filled Steve's ears. He could hear the age in her voice, but it was the same soft, English-accented voice. Suddenly, it was if no time had passed. It was the same voice that comforted him and made a date with him while he aimed the ship at the water. It was the voice of the last person he thought about 67 years ago.

He missed what the rest of the message said, but it registered that the message was over. Steve looked up at Amanda who was pressing buttons to play another message.

"…you know how much…" the woman said before Amanda pressed a button to delete the message.

The third message started.

"…I'm on my way into the city since you can't be bothered to return my calls. I've spoken to Anthony, and since he cares about me, he and Pepper have invited me to stay at the mansion, but I'll be staying at your townhouse," she said.

Amanda ended the playback and looked at a couple things on her phone.

"That message was at ten, so…she'll be here in about an hour. My place is a mess and…" she stopped and looked up at the shell-shocked man in front of her. "Are you okay?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine," he said.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" she said. "I'm sorry."

Steve looked down into her eyes. "No, it's okay. Good memories," he lied.

"I know how my aunt operates; she wants things done quickly, which is why she is 93 years old and is probably driving herself here. But if you want more time, Steve, I'll talk to her. I don't want you to…"

Steve put his hand on hers to stop her. "It's okay. I'm just nervous. A lot of things have changed. I mean, I'm…"

"You're the same and she's so much older."

"Right," Steve said, agreeing with her. "And I just…"

"And now that you know about the changes, you feel a little differently about the idea of her," Amanda said. "It's okay, I understand."

Just then, JARVIS chimed in.

"Doctor Carter, your Aunt, Margaret Carter is checking in downstairs," he said.

Amanda's eyes went wide and sweat formed on Steve's forehead.

"JARVIS, can you please stall her? Just a couple of minutes?" Amanda asked.

"Of course, ma'am," JARVIS replied.

"I feel like I should give you some kind of pep talk, Captain," Amanda said. "Um, my aunt is now 93 years old. She, uh…"

"She didn't fall for your shameless stall tactics, my dear," she said, slowly walking up the hall.

It was a tense moment for all three of the people in the hall, and Amanda was caught in the middle.

Steve, in fact, still had Amanda's hand in his, even though his first love was walking towards him.

Peggy was a bit hunched and she was walking slower. Her hair had gone grey and she now wore glasses. But despite her being 93, she could easily pass for a late sixties/early seventies. And her voice was definitely the same.

"I believe you two have some catching up to do," Amanda said, pulling her hand away. "If you take the hallway all the way down and into the last door on the left, there's a library where you can sit and talk. I'll have JARVIS make some tea and coffee and then I'm heading to clean up my apartment," she finished.

"You…don't have to go," Steve said.

"No, you both should just catch up," Amanda said.

She turned away from them and started down the hallway. Steve's eyes followed her down the hall for a moment, and then he turned his attention back to the woman he once loved.

"I should have given you some time to settle in, but I've been…"

"I am very late for our date," he said, taking her arm to lead her down the hall.

"You are, actually," she replied.

Five minutes later, Captain Rogers was listening to the soft-spoken woman who sat across a small table from him. Even though it had been almost 70 years for her, it felt like yesterday to him.

As much as Steve tried to focus on what she was saying-on the details of the life she lived without him-but he couldn't. Peggy had lived the last 67 years without him and he was getting a second chance at his own life.

"So…" she said, interrupting his train of thought. "What do you remember?"

"I remember aiming the ship toward the water, and um…"

The pain of the memory was clear on Peggy's face. She was on the radio with him until the last second, to when she knew he was gone.

"You don't remember anything after that?" she asked.

"I don't remember anything until Amanda came into my room," he said.

Peggy smiled at the young man.

"You're just the same, and I, you must think I'm a fool for coming all the way here. I'm so old now," she said, tears starting to form in the corners of her wrinkled eyes.

"Please don't cry, Peggy," Steve said softly. "It's okay."

"No, it isn't. I am so stupid to think that…"

"To think what?"

"You're still 29 years old. How could I ever think that you would want to be with such an old woman? Especially since I saw how you looked at my niece," she cried. "And how she looked back at you."

Steve didn't know what to say. She could always see right through him.

…

Please, please review.

And I promise there will be more action in the near future. I just wanted to tackle some other details first. Thanks!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Here's the next chapter! Please read on!

Into the New World

Chapter 8

"…and then there was this completely awkward moment…"

"More awkward than your hands in my chest hole?" Tony asked.

Tony Stark had caught her on the way out of the house and asked her to check on the arc reactor in his chest.

"Actually…" she said, smiling. "I would much rather be doing this right now than being with the two of them."

"Can you see why I am having some pain and oozing?" he asked.

"It's probably this jagged piece on the casing of the new arc reactor that's causing both of your issues, Mr. Stark," Amanda replied. "How the hell did you miss that?"

Stark tried to sit up.

"Tony, don't move. The mechanics that are keeping you alive are in my hand."

"JARVIS, come here and help Mandy."

JARVIS' robotic arm moved forward.

"JARVIS, can you—"

"Of course, doctor."

The arm and hand chose a tool to smooth out the metal edge of the reactor.

"Thank you, JARVIS," Amanda said once the arm retracted. She held the reactor up to the light and nodded in satisfaction.

"We are successful," she smiled. "Now, this'll only hurt for a minute."

Tony braced himself to have the reactor put back into his chest.

"Thank you, honey," Tony said. "Pepper doesn't like doing that."

"Gee, I wonder why," Amanda said sarcastically.

"So, you like Cap, huh?" he asked as he buttoned up his dress shirt.

"What?" Amanda replied as she helped him fix his tie.

"You're _physically _attracted to Captain America, correct. Remember, I am a smart man, I can see these things."

"I would rather not…" 

"Oh, please. You just had your hand in my chest. And I almost helped babysit you once when you were little," he said. "Just tell me, MandyAnn."

"All right, fine…I'm attracted to him. But it has to just be a physical reaction."

"What does it _just_ have to be a physical reaction?"

"Because he's 94 years old!"

"In a 29 year old man's body, honey," Tony said.

"He's not going to age, Tony! I'm gonna get old like my aunt. I can't fall in love with him because I'm…I'm not going to. It's that simple."

"That might be the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say," Tony said, finally standing up.

"There are a lot more important things…"

"You need to stop and think about yourself for a minute," Tony said. Amanda gave him a quizzical look. "Seriously, not all agents need to be so celibate," he smiled. "I don't think I read that in the handbook."

Amanda laughed.

"And that punk Johnny Storm does not count as a relationship," he added.

"And what would you call it?" she asked.

"A fire hazard," he smiled.

"Ha-ha, very funny."

"You smelled like smoke for the three days you went out with him. It was not attractive," Tony said. "The smartest thing you did was break up with him."

"It was longer than three days…"

"That's what you took from that speech? Honey," he said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "We've got a lot to work on."

"Well, thank you for the advice. I need to go change the sheets on my bed so my aunt can stay there," she said.

"Has it been, that long since you washed your sheets?"

"I just can't remember if I changed them since they got the singe marks on them," she smiled.

"Ugh," Tony sighed.

"Just kidding…I spilled my coffee a couple days ago."

"I don't believe you," Tony laughed. "Thanks again, honey."

Tony kissed her on the cheek and Amanda headed out of the house and straight to her apartment.

…

Steve Rogers sat and listened to Peggy for about an hour and then JARVIS, being able to sense the unease, suggested that they stroll through the Stark mansion's gardens. The computer-butler led them through the home and out first into a steamy greenhouse full of exotic flowers and other plants. Once they reached the end of the greenhouse, Steve opened the door and let Peggy out into the sunshine of the outdoor garden. The two of them continued to chitchat all the while, but soon Steve knew she was tired.

"Let's find a place so you can rest," Steve said.

"No, no, Steve. I'm fine," she said. She hated that he thought of her as an old woman.

"I know it's been a while, but I know you, Peggy," he said. "There's a bench right there."

Once they were seated in a patch of sunshine, Peggy began to speak once more.

"Amanda has become a wonderful woman," she said. She wanted to gauge how Steve felt about her niece. He'd said nothing earlier, so Peggy was even more curious.

"She's been very helpful, I mean, I've only been back in the world for less than 48 hours, but she's really been there to help me adjust."

"I don't like that she works for SHIELD. It's not safe. I am so proud that she's a doctor and I thought…well, Fury saw that she would be an asset to his team. What am I doing? Amanda will want to tell you about her life," Peggy said.

"It's okay, she told me some stuff already," Steve said.

"I never thought she'd been working with Fury. She wanted to be a ballerina when she was a little girl, so she's a classically trained dancer and a doctor and…" Peggy stopped herself for a moment. "I just never thought she'd still be risking her life like we did," Peggy said. "You know what she said to me when I found out? She asked me why she was any better than anyone else. Why she should ignore the call to duty? She sounded like you."

Steve knew what Peggy meant. He always knew he was meant to be a soldier and he didn't stop until he was drafted.

"I guess sometimes you can't ignore that call," Steve said.

"It didn't stop you."

"Asthma, flat feet and being perpetually skinny didn't stop me," he smiled.

"So…you like her, right?"

Steve knew he couldn't lie to her, so he nodded. He _did_ like Amanda; the attraction to her had been instant.

"I know it's been fast, really fast, but I do like her. But I don't think it's mutual."

"You still don't know anything about women, do you?" she laughed.

"I didn't get a lot of practice while I was frozen and asleep," Steve said.

"I could tell, even in that short moment, that she…she likes you. Just take it slow; give it some time…"

It was then that an alarm started going off. It was loud and echoed through the house and the garden.

"What is that?" Both Steve and Peggy asked as the same time.

They could see that agents were running to and fro inside the house.

"You should go," Peggy said. "They might need you."

"I'll go find out…"

"Rogers, come on! We need to go!" Natasha shouted towards them.

Steve looked to Peggy and then went running to catch up with the Black Widow. He didn't know where they were going, but he was eager to go.

To be continued…

A/N: As always, please leave me a review so I know that I'm doing okay…


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Okay, I am sooo sorry that it took so long for me to update. Hopefully, this chapter is good.

Thank you very, very much for the terrific reviews that you've all left me! Made my week last week for such kind words.

Okay, read and leave me another review. Thanks!

Into the New World

Chapter 9

"…No, mom, I don't know…well, I _do_ know, but I can't tell you," Amanda said into her phone. She was cleaning when her mom called and she thought it would be safer to take the call than to let it go to voicemail…again…for the third day in a row.

"You have to tell me, I'm your mother," Sharon Carter said.

"Like I said, I cannot tell you. It's not that I don't _want_ to tell you; it's that I _can't._ It's my job. And this info is on a need to know basis."

"Well, you are my daughter. Your safety is on the line, so I _do_ need to know. I hate…"

Amanda stopped mid-clean to stare at the cell phone that was barking orders and complaints about her job.

"I don't care that you think you need to know. That isn't how it works," Amanda laughed.

"I _do not_ like your tone, young lady," her mother said.

Amanda continued to pick up the piles of clothes that were strewn about her bedroom. She couldn't remember the last time she had done laundry, vacuumed or gone grocery shopping. Amanda dumped another pile into her closet. The pile inside was waist high already and she wasn't sure she would ever be able to safely open the door again.

"Mom," Amanda said in a softer tone. "I cannot tell you. You have to let it go."

"Amanda Ann Carter, you were almost crushed to death by a giant green monster on the news. Then someone, out of nowhere, came running and knocked you out of the way. The news is identifying him as Captain Steven Rogers…Captain America. Captain America who died 67 years ago. Is that why your aunt is there?"

"What do you mean?"

"She told me and your father that she was headed to the city, to see you and Captain America. It's either the truth or she's going to need to be committed. Either way, it's something I need to know," Sharon said.

"I was on the news?" Amanda said, trying to distract her mother.

"Staring into that man's eyes," her mom said.

A beep signaled a second call, just in time, and Amanda hoped that her mom would let her go.

"Mom, I'll have to call you back later. I have another call. And I cannot confirm or deny the identity of the man whose arms I was in," Amanda said before switching over to the other line.

"I don't know where the hell you are, but get your shit together and meet us down at Stark Tower," Nick Fury yelled into the phone. "Bring your bag."

The line when dead and it took a minute for the information just yelled at her to sink in. But then she jumped into action.

…

"I am so tired of people blowing up my shit," Tony Stark said.

He had abandoned his Iron Man suit and was walking around what used to be the lobby of his office building. The walls were charred and all of the glass was blown out of the windows. His receptionist was on the ground, unconscious.

"Structurally, the building is okay," Hawkeye said.

"And we swept the rest of the building; we couldn't find any more explosives," Natasha said. "I think it was more of a message than real destruction."

"That used to be an Edward Hopper painting on that wall and right there, that was my dad's favorite Norman Rockwell," Tony said.

Steve didn't know what he was talking about.

"I know it's been a long time, but this doesn't look like any explosion pattern I've ever seen," Steve said as he studied the burn patterns on the wall.

Hawkeye and Natasha also focused on the walls.

"You're right, Cap," Nick said. "The next question is: what _did_ make this?"

"We need to take samples and get it back to the lab. Dr. Banner and I can do some experiments," Tony said.

"Where the hell is Carter?" Nick asked.

"I'm here, sorry," Amanda said, stepping into the charred lobby.

"Check on the young lady. We're packing up," Fury said without looking in her direction.

"It was nice of you to join us, MandyAnn," Tony said, directing her to the unconscious woman on the floor. "Where were you?" Tony whispered.

"Home. I told you I was…" Amanda stopped. The young woman on the floor was beginning to come around. "Is this still Becky?" Amanda asked. She knew Tony had a bad habit of going through receptionists…well, employees, in general.

"Yes," he replied, rolling his eyes.

Amanda kneeled down to take the vital signs of Becky.

"Hey, Becky. It's Amanda, remember?"

The woman hoarsely said yes.

"Don't move until I've checked you all out. Do you have any pain anywhere?"

"I'm just sore."

Steve watched Amanda in doctor-mode. She was systematically checking the poor woman's neck and spine. She listened to her heart and lungs. Amanda moved like the medics in the war…with timeliness and precision. Amanda took one second to look up at him and smile, but then got right back to helping Becky sit up.

"Can you tell me the last thing you remember?" Amanda asked.

"I helped someone check in," Becky said, her voice very hoarse. "Um, I don't know what his name was."

Amanda turned to Tony. "Do you keep records of who comes in your building? I saw your cameras outside the front door, but the explosion seems to have fried the wiring."

Tony gave her a look that said 'duh'.

"After they have signed themselves in, it's supposed to be entered into the computer," Tony said.

Becky didn't look like she remembered any of that.

"Was it a man, a woman?" Natasha asked as she kneeled on the other side of Becky.

Tony moved to the computer and attempted to get the charred metal and plastic to boot up. The look on his face said he wasn't initially having a whole lot of luck.

"I'm pretty sure it was a man. I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark," Becky said, beginning to cry. The tears flowed down her cheeks, leaving clean streaks amongst the dirt.

The quiet room was now filled with the loud sobs and sniffling of Becky. The team felt the uncomfortable tension and they all turned to Tony.

Tony didn't know what to say. He didn't like crying and he definitely didn't know how to deal with them.

"Um, it's—it's okay, Becky," Tony said, clearing his throat. "I'm sure you would have tried to stop the individual from trying to blow up my building had he not rendered you totally useless," he said.

Nick Fury saw Steve looking intently at the walls and thinking.

"What do you think, Cap?" Fury asked.

Steve was startled out of his thoughts. Something around the lobby was familiar, but he couldn't figure out why it was recognizable. Steve didn't answer Fury right away, afraid of saying something stupid in front of all the incredibly smart people in the room.

The burn marks still weren't recognizable, but something still was grabbing his attention. Then it clicked. He remembered the smell.

Steve remembered it so well, that when he closed his eyes briefly, it was like he was back in that HYDRA factory, trying to save the rest of the 107th infantry.

"This is HYDRA," Steve said. "I'd recognize the smell of their guns anywhere. It shot out a blue flame."

Nick Fury stood with his hands behind his back, listening to the group discuss the situation.

"HYDRA was disbanded at the end of the war," Hawkeye said. "One of Schmitt's followers tried to restart it during the Cold War, but there wasn't enough of a following for him to get it going. They lost a lot of their great minds in the war."

"How could you even know what kind of explosives they used?" Tony asked.

Everyone turned to Steve expectantly.

"The smell," he said, in a matter of fact fashion. "And it makes no difference if HYDRA still exists or not, there is someone using the same kind of explosives. And believe me, one you're in the middle of a fight with HYDRA soldiers and they are using flame throwers and some kind of blue thing that makes people explode on contact, you'd remember it."

"Well, Cap, if you don't mind, we're still going to run some tests on what's left of my lobby walls," Tony said.

Natasha took that as her cue to begin taking samples with Hawkeye as Tony continued to do some work with the computer. A few minutes later, he was able to pull up the check-in software.

"A Doctor Erik Selvig was the last to check in," Tony read out loud.

"The astrophysicist?" Natasha asked.

"Unfortunately, we don't require you to state your profession at check-in," Tony said. "But I don't know if there are any more Erik Selvigs in the world."

An ambulance pulled up outside, sirens blaring.

"I'm going to get Becky into the bus and on her way to the hospital," Amanda said.

Steve moved to help Amanda escort Becky out of the building.

The three of them headed out the entrance hole and into the back of the ambulance on a gurney. Amanda gave the SHIELD paramedics her vitals and they started to drive away once Becky was secured.

"You're an amazing doctor," Steve said.

"I'm just doing my job, Captain," Amanda said, trying to avoid making eye contact. She was hoping by not making eye contact, she wouldn't have those feelings for him.

"Right," Steve agreed, nodding slightly.

SHIELD agents were once again securing a perimeter around the explosion site, holding back reporters and curious onlookers. Floor managers were taking a head count of their staff members a block or so away. Amanda wished she could be anywhere but where she was, but only because she wanted to kiss the man before her.

"Uh, did you have a good time talking with Aunt Peggy?" Amanda asked.

Steve bristled at the mention of Peggy. Clearly, that hadn't been what he had been thinking about.

"Yes, it was very, uh, nice, to talk to Peggy," Steve said. "A little odd, but nice. She had a lot of nice things to say about you."

Amanda blushed. She couldn't help it and Steve definitely noticed. He smiled down at her. He was beginning to win her over.

"Hey, would you…" Steve started, but was interrupted by Fury and Tony Stark walking out towards them. Steve just couldn't catch a break.

"I need a word with you, Carter," Fury said.

A/N: Please review.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thanks to all who have added me to their favorites lists and subscriptions! It means a lot that you all want to read my story.

Into the New World

Chapter 10

Captain Rogers was not surprised that the more scientifically-minded folks around him were skeptical of his assessment. Why wouldn't it be easy to believe a man who had been frozen for the last 70 years? Particularly when he said he could remember the smell? Steve wasn't sure if he even truly believed it himself.

And that fella named Hawkeye seemed certain that HYDRA had been destroyed. Overall, that was a good thing; that's what he had been fighting for so many years ago. But he definitely thought he could be right, and when you have that gut reaction, it's hard to ignore.

It had been two weeks since the incident at Stark Tower. Two weeks since he had almost asked Amanda out on a date. And two weeks since he'd had any contact with her.

It was just as well; he didn't have time to actually take her out anyway. Maybe it was all for the best. Director Fury has set up training for them all in those last two weeks and it was ten hours a day extensive physical training.

Today, Steve was in the boxing ring with Thor. He had begun to get to know the god of Thunder and kind of actually liked him. And without his hammer, he was a pretty even match for the Captain. The two also found they had a lot in common. Both were new to this world; both needed to learn a lot so they could function here.

They had already gone several rounds when the door began to open to the training room. The person who walked into the room was enough to distract both of them, but Thor recovered quickly and took advantage. He swung and landed a punch that had Steve flat on his back.

Thor grinned and extended his hand to help Steve up. Steve was embarrassed that Amanda was such a distraction to him and that there were so many witnesses to see him fall.

"Don't worry, Captain," Thor smiled. "We are all victims of great beauty."

Steve nodded, as he shook Thor's hand.

"I'm sorry; JARVIS didn't say that both of you were in here. I'm just looking for Thor," Amanda said. "Not that…" Amanda started as she saw the flash of disappointment on Steve's face. "I just have a message for you. Jane and Darcy just landed at the airport. They should be here within the hour."

"Thank you, doctor," Thor said. He nodded to Amanda. "I should probably get cleaned up."

Steve nodded and smiled. He had heard about Jane Foster from Thor a couple days ago earlier. He was happy for Thor that she could come visit.

Thor was gone quickly and soon it was just Amanda and Steve. Steve was still standing in the ring, afraid to make eye-contact with the woman.

"Um, I heard you've been doing some pretty extensive training the last couple of weeks," Amanda said.

"Uh, yes," Steve replied.

"You know, I've been trained in boxing," she said, grinning.

Steve wasn't sure what she was talking about. In fact, Amanda wasn't sure why she had mentioned it. Both of them were thinking the same thing: was she flirting?

But Amanda decided to go for it. She was divesting herself of her suit jacket and heels and was climbing between the ropes.

The Captain was kind of horrified at the thought of sparring with a girl. Particularly once he had such strong feelings about. And, even though she was a trained agent, she was still a woman. You weren't supposed to hit a woman.

Amanda playfully jabbed him in the side, and he knew she wasn't going to back down. But he didn't put his guard up, just so he didn't hurt her and a few trick moves later, she had Captain America pinned to the ground. Any man who wasn't a super-soldier would be unconscious in this situation.

Steve used his muscle control and lightly flipped them over so he had her pinned to the floor of the ring. He looked down into her blue eyes.

"You're not exactly the damsel in distress, are you?" he asked.

"Well, sometimes it's fun to be rescued," Amanda replied.

"So, where have you been the last couple of weeks?" he asked. He truly thought after the second week of not seeing her, she was avoiding him purposely.

Steve let her free and the laid on their backs in the ring, looking up at the ceiling.

"Fury was not pleased with my initial absence the day of the incident at Stark Tower, so I've been getting the grunt work since then: delivering messages, getting coffee, and the like," Amanda explained. "I suppose I deserve it."

"You're entitled to time off, right? Just like any job?"

Amanda's response was to laugh. Even when she wasn't working, she was working.

"I am _always_ working. In Fury's opinion, we are the job and the job is us."

"Like being a soldier."

"Indeed. And don't get me wrong, I love my job. I can't imagine doing anything else. But once in a while, having a personal life would be nice. I tried dating that guy who almost got me killed by the Hulk…Johnny Storm. But he was, and still is, one of those egotistical superheroes who thinks that he's God's gift to women."

The way she used the word 'superhero' so casually was odd to Steve, but he just kept listening.

"Obviously, it didn't work out," Amanda said. "Unfortunately, gaining super powers doesn't make you any less of a jerk. He cheated on me a couple of times in the week or so we dated…I don't know why I'm making you listen to this."

"That guy is a jerk," Steve replied. "I've never understood how people cheat. My conscience would get to me."

"Not all guys, or girls for that matter, put a lot of stock in their conscience," Amanda said. "Oh! I did want to tell you that JARVIS and I have finalized our list of tests that we would like to run, with your final approval, of course," she said.

"I'm sure they're fine. I probably wouldn't know one way or another anyway. Do you need to start them now?"

"Oh, no, no. You've had a long couple of weeks and a very long day today," she said. "Maybe Monday? If Fury doesn't need you to keep training every single day."

"Between the fight training and simulations, as well as the reading I've been doing about the last 70 years, don't let it get out, but I am kinda getting tired," Steve said.

"I could imagine."

He was trying to focus on what Amanda was saying, but he was caught up in the fact that they were lying next to each other, just talking. They weren't touching, but it seemed so intimate. Steve couldn't believe that after not seeing her for two weeks, wondering what could be between them, or not between them, and here she was, next to him.

"It's been a lot of history to learn in only a few days."

"I took an American History class in college a few years back. It was the 1850s to present. It met three days a week, two hours each day for 16 weeks and we still didn't make it through the 1970s. So, I can imagine that the reading is getting a bit tedious."

They continued to talk about this and that, but Amanda now found herself losing the battle she was having with staying awake. It was so comfortable to be laying there with Steve. His voice was calming and quiet and soon her eyelids were fluttering closed and her breathing became rhythmic. She had fallen asleep.

Steve wasn't so sure what to do next. She was asleep on the floor of a boxing ring and he was now responsible for her sleeping form. Should he move her? But where would he take her?

Listening to her breathing, so deep and even, while he was thinking of what to do next, was starting to make him tired. Maybe he could just close his eyes for a minute and when he awoke, he could ask JARVIS what to do. But in the meantime, he was going to succumb to the tiredness that he was feeling too.

….

Tony Stark was used to staying up all night. Usually it was because of some party, or some woman, but last night it was because he'd reached a breakthrough in his research and experiments. He wanted to speak to Amanda, the person who had been hiding out from Fury and helping him the past week. However, she wasn't picking up her cell phone.

Barefoot, he poured himself a cup of coffee in his kitchen. The sun was beginning to rise as he spoke to JARVIS.

"JARVIS, what time did Amanda leave last night?" Tony asked his cyber butler. She'd been working with JARVIS in his lab last night before being asked to take a message to Thor. And Tony had no idea what time that was. When he was in the zone, he had no concept of time.

JARVIS took a moment to process the request of his creator.

"It appears that Doctor Carter never left the house last night," he answered.

"She usually mentions when she's staying. Where is she?"

JARVIS did not reply.

"JARVIS, where is she?" Tony said, starting to get aggravated. He'd created JARVIS to be very, very smart.

"Sir, she is in Captain Rogers' weight room," the computer replied.

"What the hell is she doing down there? Is she all right? None of the crazies that I have living here snapped and killed her, right?"

"My sensors are detecting normal vital signs. Slightly elevated temperature, but breathing, pulse and blood pressure are normal for her."

Tony set down the coffee he had just poured for himself and took off for the basement staircase. If Rogers or anyone else brought any harm to her, he was going to do some serious Iron Man-type damage to said person.

But the sight he found once the door slid open was not what he expected. In fact, an unconscious woman, he thought to himself, would be less unsettling.

A pair of black high heels lay kicked off on the ground and a woman's suit jacket was thrown over the back of a metal folding chair. And two bodies were sleeping in the middle of the boxing ring.

It was easy to identify them as Amanda Carter and Steve Rogers. And even though Tony knew that they were attracted to each other, Amanda had told him only last night that she hadn't even spoken to the Captain in over a week and a half.

Tony slowly backed out of the room, as quietly as possible, so as not to wake them. It was awkward enough to view them sleeping in a boxing ring; he didn't want to wake them up and have to talk to them, too.

As the door slid shut behind him, alarms started ringing throughout the house. The alarms designed to let all the Avengers know that there was a situation that was happening.

It was show time for the whole lot of them.

…

Dun, dun, dun….

Okay, please leave me a review. I promise real action with the Avengers in the next chapter!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Okay, folks! Sorry that it has taken me so long to update. It's been a long couple of weeks and my muse disappeared for a bit. Hopefully, I can make up for the lengthy hiatus I took with this extra long chapter. Please let me know what I can do to improve my writing. Thanks!

Into the New World

Chapter 11

Even though it was only seven in the morning, everyone was up and running. The alarms blaring throughout the Stark mansion weren't exactly subtle.

Amanda's eyes sprang open but it only took a second for them to focus. A foreign arm was around her waist. Then it all clicked. She was in the weight room, in the boxing ring, and the arm was attached to Captain Rogers. She started to move and the foreign arm retracted toward its owner. Sitting up, Amanda looked around and Captain Rogers did the same.

Both of them had to go. There was no time to process what had happened; the world was at stake.

Amanda chose not to say anything. She simply stood up, climbed between the ropes and abandoned the weight room. She hadn't even stopped for her shoes.

It took half a second longer for the Captain to process the situation and the obnoxiously loud alarms at such an obnoxiously early hour, but he followed Amanda out the door shortly after.

Steve climbed out of the ring and left the room and he thought he could catch up with Amanda, but the brunette agent that he'd fallen asleep with last night was out of sight.

"Captain Rogers," JARVIS said. "You will find your suit in the closet to your immediate left. Please change and join the others in the surveillance room."

The AI's voice startled Steve, but he quickly recognized it.

"To my left?"

"Yes, sir," JARVIS replied.

Steve didn't remember putting his suit in this particular suit in this particular hallway closet, or any hallway closet for that matter. However, he opened the door and found his suit, helmet, and shield.

"Please, Captain, quickly," JARVIS urged him.

Steve thought he sensed a little bit of exasperation out of the AI's voice, but he couldn't be sure. Could computers sound exasperated?

Steve stepped inside the closet for privacy, and slipped into his suit. A minute later, Steve was following JARVIS' directions to join the rest of the team.

The door to a high security room slid open once Steve verified his identity. SHIELD agents and the other Avengers team members stood around the room while high tech equipment lined the walls.

Steve had thought there was a rush, but they all seemed to be twiddling their thumbs. The alarms were still going off, but no one was moving.

"Ugh, it's just Rogers," Hawkeye announced.

Clearly, they were waiting for someone else.

"What are we waiting for?" Steve asked. He was dressed and ready to go.

"We don't have any orders," Tony said. "Can't go anywhere if we don't know what's going on."

"Or where it's going on," Natasha said.

Tony Stark looked at the man in the American flag suit curiously. Rogers was looking at Amanda, who was staring at the toes of her boots.

Steve tore himself away from looking at Amanda in order to focus on the task at hand. "Shouldn't someone be giving out orders? Someone would have had to raise the alarms."

No one answered him because as soon as he finished his question, the door slid open. Director Nick Fury casually strolled into the room.

The director stopped once he stood in front of the group and looked at them with his one eye.

"Good morning," he announced.

"Good morning?" Bruce Banner asked confusedly from his corner.

"Yes, good morning, team," Fury said again. "JARVIS, full response time?"

"Full team response time: sixty four seconds," JARVIS replied a moment later.

"Sixty four seconds, hmmm, too long," Fury said.

"Director Fury, where will we be off too? Shall we be on our way?"

"Yeah, shouldn't we be in some kind of hurry?" Dr. Banner asked, a vein dangerously starting to pulse in his neck.

"You aren't going anywhere, ladies and gentlemen," Nick said. "This was a test."

A distinct glow of green was clear in Bruce Banner's face and Tony Stark's mask slid back to reveal an equally red face.

"A test?" Tony asked, angrily.

"This was only a drill, folks. A drill all of you failed," Fury announced. "Response time needs to be cut to about nineteen seconds."

"Are you kidding me?" Tony yelled. "I _let_ you use my house for this project of yours and agree to be part of this team and you run a freaking fire drill? At seven in the freaking morning?"

"I have it on good authority that you were already awake," Fury pointed out.

"JARVIS! You and I will be having some words!" Tony said. "Is there anything else you'd like to chat about or am I free to go? I have a company to run."

"You are free to go, Mr. Stark," Fury said evenly.

Tony's mask came back down over his angry face and he began his Iron Man march out of the room.

"I'm glad to see you could control that rage, Dr. Banner. How are you feeling now?" Fury asked.

"Uh, I don't really know how to answer that right now," Bruce replied. "So, I think I'm just gonna go."

Fury nodded and Banner tried as calmly as possible to exit the room.

"Captain Rogers, you were able to find your suit and get here, although, had you been asleep in your room, it would have been much more expedient," Fury said. "Cap, you're dismissed. You, too, Thor."

Steve was confused as hell as to what was going on, but he didn't say anything. He thought interjecting might make the director include more details and embarrass him and Amanda. The captain removed his helmet and silently exited the room right behind Thor.

"Hawkeye, Natasha, you're also good to go," Fury said. "I'd like to speak with Agent Carter."

Amanda wanted to follow behind them. Nat gave her one last sympathetic look as she walked out. The metal door slid shut and then it was just Fury and Amanda.

"Just yell at me, already," Amanda said.

"Why would I _yell_ at you, Carter?" he asked, eyeing her with the one eye.

"Because…" she started.

"Because you were sleeping in a boxing ring with Captain America?" Fury said.

"Uh, yeah, that pretty much covers it," Amanda said.

"I'm not going to yell at you. What I am going to say is, be cautious. Use better judgment that what you showed last night."

"I…"

"Believe me, we can _all _tell that there is a physical attraction between you and Rogers," Fury said to her surprise and embarrassment. "Don't let it affect your judgment. You're one of the best agents I've got. I can't have either of you compromised."

Fury paused for a moment to let it sink in.

"And before you say anything, I had this same discussion with Natasha and Clint," Fury said.

"Well, last night was an accident…"

"As much as I want to believe that, Carter, I've seen otherwise," Fury said.

"Director Fury, I know how important this initiative is, for us, and the world," Amanda said. "How I feel or don't feel is not going to affect the overall intentions of the work we're doing. Can I go now?"

Fury sat down in a computer chair and looked at her. He knew better, and just because she was saying one thing, didn't mean he believed her.

Amanda waited expectantly for a response. She wanted more than anything to be out of this room.

"Amanda, I'm not saying this to pick on you or embarrass you or make you choose something over another," Fury said. "I'm telling you to be careful."

It was so uncharacteristic of Nick Fury that Amanda was rendered completely speechless. Fury didn't talk about emotions. He didn't talk about what he was talking about. It confused her and Amanda just wanted to go away. She wanted to be anywhere else in the world.

"I have to go," Amanda said.

This time, she didn't wait for a response; Amanda crossed the room and left.

"Doctor Carter," JARVIS' voice startled her once she was out in the hall. "Mr. Stark would like to speak with you."

"Oh, does he now? Where is he?" Amanda asked.

"He's in his lab," JARVIS said. "And he has your cell phone."

"Of course he does," Amanda replied. "Do me a favor; don't tell him I'm on my way."

…

Steve Rogers made his way back to his room. He was a bit stiff from sleeping in the boxing ring and thought maybe he should get cleaned up for the day.

He didn't realize that when he joined the initiative, that there were going to be so many conflicting personalities. Over the course of the last week or so, he'd learned bits and pieces about the others in the group.

As he started to shave, Steve mentally mapped out each of his teammates.

Tony Stark. Steve didn't really know what to think of him. He was the son of one of his good friends from 70 years ago. He was rich and oh, man, was he smart. But the only reason he was part of this was because he built some kind of suit that Steve had come into limited contact with.

Thor. It was hard for Steve to believe that this was truly a god from another realm. But once he started to talk to him more, he was just as out of touch with 2012 as he was. His demeanor and his language…he was definitely from out of this world.

Doctor Banner. His strength came from a military experiment, just like Steve. However, there was some kind of accident and it turned him into this green raging monster that seems to make him more of a liability than teammate. Steve was told that Banner had spent years trying to be able to calm his nerves and keep emotions in check to keep him from becoming the Hulk. However, the simple fact that he had gone on a rampage through the city only a few days ago, Steve wasn't so sure to trust him. He was just grateful that it hadn't happened to him.

Steve finished shaving and got into the shower. He just felt like it was going to be a long day.

…

Amanda let herself into Tony Stark's lab after staring at his back through the glass wall. He had her cell phone in there and was doing something to it. She very much didn't like that. But how much trouble could she have gotten herself into? She had just gotten the phone.

"I wondered when you were going to come in," Tony said. "I thought you might just stare at me."

"Why do you have my phone?" she asked, ignoring his previous statement.

"I have your high heels, too," he said, pointing to another table. "I retrieved them from your makeshift bedroom."

Amanda rolled her eyes.

"How did you know?"

"JARVIS can tell me what time you went in there and can tell me exactly what you all talked about. I didn't see the point in going into that much research," he said, turning around to face her.

He had his normal facial hair, but it was surrounded by a five o'clock shadow.

"You were up all night," Amanda deduced.

"I thought it might be a good idea to find out who tried to make my building go 'boom'," Tony said in a sarcastic tone.

"Were you successful?" Amanda asked as she peered over his shoulder.

"That's how I knew where you were. You looked pretty comfortable wrapped up in Cap's arms, though, so I didn't wake you," Tony said, meeting her gaze over his shoulder. "I asked JARVIS to find you once you weren't answering your cell phone," he said as a response to her dirty look.

"Can we just stick to the point…what did your research show?"

Tony turned back to his computer and brought up a series of 3D images and charts. The room itself began to fill with information. Amanda waited for the man to start walking her through each piece.

"Well, testing the samples…it matches the technology from several decades past," he said with a flourish of his hand to make a timeline move.

"So, Steve was right?" Amanda said, to Tony's dismay. He was not pleased that he had to do all this research to find out the 90 year old man was right. "But HYDRA was disbanded and destroyed. I've done the research about this. It's…"

"Honey, it's similar to that of the technology of HYDRA…the research doesn't lie," Tony said. "But I'm not one hundred percent sure it's HYDRA."

"You seem pretty calm about this," Amanda said. "Did Pepper slip tranquilizers in your tea?"

"With Fury pulling this fire drill shit this morning, I am just not sure that it's real either. And no, Pepper quit slipping drugs in my tea; I started to be able to taste them."

"Do you really think that my boss would have gone to the trouble of blowing up part of your building?" Amanda asked. "Oh, shit, did I have any missed calls? My aunt is probably going crazy."

Tony finally passed the phone to her. There were only the missed calls from him.

Amanda didn't want her to worry, so she dialed the number of her aunt's cell phone and waited for the woman to pick up; effectively forgetting about Tony's statement of Fury blowing up Stark Industries' lobby.

…

The cell phone in her coat pocket began to ring; startling Peggy from her sleep. Peggy desperately wanted to answer it, but her hands were bound behind her.

"Get the phone. Find out who it is," a female's voice ordered.

The man in the room did as he was ordered and he read the caller ID display.

"Mandy," he said around a thick accent.

The female smiled a devilish smile. "Hold the phone up so Ms. Carter can ask her and the captain to meet her for lunch. And if you say anything other than that, you'll die and we'll make sure _Mandy_ does, too."

A/N: Please review. And thank you to all of my wonderful readers. I am truly sorry that it has taken me so long to get this going again.


	12. Chapter 12

Finally, here is the next update! Please read and review. Hope y'all love it!

Into the New World

Chapter 12

"That was an interesting conversation with my aunt," Amanda announced once she disconnected the call.

Tony stopped his work to turn and look at her once more.

"What do you mean?"

"She sounded strained," Amanda explained. "She sounded unusual."

"Peg's probably just pissed that you didn't come home last night," Tony suggested.

"You're not going to let that go, are you?" she asked rhetorically. "Anyway, I just figured she'd be outright mad. She isn't the kind of lady to hide her emotions. She wants to have lunch with me today. And she wants me to bring Steve along."

"Ooh, Steve…" Tony said sarcastically.

"If I didn't know you better, and I do, I would say that's jealousy in your tone," Amanda said. "It's good I know you, Mr. Stark."

"Honey, I'm just looking out for you. You have to find a normal guy."

"Steve's normal, just…old fashioned," Amanda said, a dreamy smile briefly crossing her lips.

"You're falling for him."

"There's that jealous tone again."

"MandyAnn, I'm Iron Man; I don't get jealous," he smiled.

"You suck at lying."

"Only to you. I can lie to everyone else without flinching. It might be a medical disorder."

"Anyway…okay, say it's HYDRA that blew up your lobby. Why would Erik Selvig be the last person who checked in?" Amanda asked.

"JARVIS, could you please see if you can pinpoint this Doctor SElvig?"

"Of course, sir. One moment," JARVIS replied.

"Have you met Doctor Selvig?" Amanda asked.

"I don't think so," Tony replied. "I mean, I know _a lot_ of people…"

"I…" 

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Doctor Carter, but I have the information requested," JARVIS said.

"No problem, JARVIS."

"Doctor Erik Selvig hasn't been on a single flight in the last two weeks. And he has used his unique pass code several times today at the University of New Mexico, where he is employed as an astrophysicist in the Astronomy department."

"That's sort of anti-climactic," Amanda said.

"Thank you, JARVIS," Tony said.

"So, Selvig isn't in New York; he's not even in this part of the country. I wish your receptionist could remember the face," Amanda said. "Someone impersonating Selvig was our bomber."

"I wish my building hadn't been bombed in the first place," Tony replied. "Because whether or not my receptionist remembered who came in or not would be a mute point." 

"Do you have cameras on the outside of the building?" Amanda asked.

Tony looked at her; rendered speechless for a moment at her question.

"Do you really think that if I had cameras on the outside of the building that hadn't been blown up that I wouldn't have checked them already?" Tony asked as calmly as possible.

"I'm sorry, I'm at a loss right now. I don't know what else to say."

"Try not to say anything else as dumb as what you just did."

"Hey! You're not allowed to be grouchy to everyone else except me. Remember, I'm the one who puts her hand in your chest to clean out puss."

"Touchez, salesman, touchez," Tony replied. "How is my receptionist anyway?"

"Your compassion is overwhelming, Tony," Amanda said. "How is Pepper?"

"I figure you know better than I would, since I know she left you as my _nanny_," Tony said.

"She _might have _asked me to make sure you aren't…" 

"Getting into trouble?"

"Can we stay on task?"

Tony and Amanda continued to tease and work with one another in the lab. 3D images of the lobby of Stark Industries appeared. It was life-size and rotated around the two of them as they tried scenario after scenario.

Amanda was lying across a desk, staring at the ceiling while JARVIS and Tony had another scenario running.

Steve had been curious to see what Tony's lab looked like. He'd been privileged to be invited into Tony's father's work space, probably because he was an experiment himself, but he was included nonetheless.

Walking down the stairs, he noticed the glass walls that encased the high-tech room. He then noticed the laughter that was coming from inside the room itself.

Peering in, he saw Amanda laying flat on her back on top of piles of papers, laughing at something and Tony sitting in a chair at another desk.

Movement caught Tony's eye and he made eye contact with Captain Rogers.

"Your captain is here," Tony said.

Amanda's head moved to the side to look and she smiled.

"JARVIS, let the Captain in," Tony said in a non-amused monotone.

Amanda sat up and moved to sit on the edge of the desk while JARVIS unlocked the door for Steve to step inside the room.

"I hope I'm not bothering you," Steve said.

"It's no problem," Tony said. "We were just, you know…_working_."

"Chill out, Tony. I'm glad you're here, Steve. I spoke to Aunt Peggy this morning. She was wondering if you're free to join us for lunch."

"Uh, yeah, what else would I be doing?" he asked.

"Okay, we need to be there at 12:30. I should go get cleaned up Tony, is it okay to use your bathroom? I want to take a swim in your bathtub," Amanda said.

"Swim at your own risk; I'm in between life guards," Tony replied.

He swiveled around in his chair and continued to work. Amanda exited the door and Steve's gaze followed her all the way up the stairs.

Looking around, Steve was confused. Science was never his strong suit. He hated it in school, preferring more artistic forms of expression. The captain knew he wouldn't understand what the man was talking about, and add to the fact that he was 70 years behind on the technological advances—he was apt to make a total fool of himself.

Various things that Steve couldn't identify were all around the room, but the more he looked, he saw cars of varying ages. And then he saw the art collection on the walls. And amongst it all, part of an original shield prototype was attached and Steve instinctively moved towards it.

"My father must have really thought highly of you," Tony said. "He spent a hell of a lot of time and money looking for you."

"I wish I could thank him. Without his Vita-Ray machine, I wouldn't be here now," Steve said.

Tony wasn't good at sentimentality, so he thought the best way to function with this man was to abruptly change the subject.

"So, you're going to take Amanda to lunch with her aunt. Probably a good idea, get out there in the modern world, instead of sitting here in the house all the time," Tony said.

"Yeah, I think it'll be a pleasant change," Steve agreed. "I'm not meant to be house-bound," he sighed. "Even though it's a very nice house," he rushed to add.

Tony turned back to his over-sized computer monitor and clicked through a few images of his bombed-out lobby, looking for any other clues he might have missed. He didn't really want to talk to this yahoo anymore, but he didn't look like he was going to be leaving the lab anytime soon.

Steve wandered back past all the computers and half-started experiments to the wall that housed all of the Iron Man suits. No matter how many times he had seen Stark in the suit, he still had a hard time believing it all.

"You really _made_ all of these?" Steve asked, turning around to look back at Tony.

But he didn't see Tony immediately. Apparently, he had found something else he needed to investigate in one of the corners of the destroyed lobby and he had JARVIS recreate the room once more and was now surrounded by computer-projected walls.

Steve didn't understand any of the computer technology. Everyday there was something new to mystify him. He felt like an uneducated lump standing in the presence of this man.

"What?" Tony called, registering that he had heard Rogers say something.

"These suits…you _made _them?" Steve asked again, getting closer to the glass.

"Of course," Tony replied, peeking through a computer-generated window. "How else would they be here?"

Steve sighed again. Maybe he would just get out of here. He glanced down at his watch, some fancy thing that one of the SHIELD agents insisted he wear, and noticed that it was 11 o'clock. What was he going to do for an hour?

"Well, I think I'm going to let you do your work," Steve said. "Thanks for letting me look around."

Tony said nothing, just waved the other man off. The man's personality was nothing like his father's.

Steve decided he was just going to find something suitable to wear out to lunch with a couple of ladies.

…

Peggy Carter gulped and tried to suppress the urge to start crying again. The woman sat in a dark room, alone, and she hadn't seen anyone in what had to be at least an hour. She didn't even know how she got to be in this place.

Her hands were bound behind her back and she was forced to sit up in a terribly uncomfortable chair. There was no way she was going to be able to wriggle out of this.

There was a sliver of light showing under the door from the adjacent room. And she could make out some foreign language being spoken, loudly. But she couldn't quite make out what the female voice was yelling.

That female, Peggy had learned once she had come to, was the great granddaughter of Johann Schmidt. Peggy hadn't even known that Schmidt had any children. Synthia, Peggy learned she was called, had an attitude much like her great grandfather. However, she was much easier on the eyes than the Red Skull.

Silence followed the yelling, and then there was an intense flash of light.

What was going on out there?

Peggy waited with bated breath for any sound or indication of movement; perhaps someone had come to rescue her. She hated that she was now depending on someone rescuing her.

And when the door burst open suddenly, around the fact that her eyes were still adjusting to the change in light, Peggy was sure it was her niece that had come to rescue her.

"Thank goodness you're here, darling," Peggy said, sagging forward in her hard-backed chair.

But the voice that followed was not that of Amanda.

"Yes, I think it's marvelous that I'm here, too," the figure said.

Peggy Carter was sure she was in the Twilight Zone. She was staring at herself; herself from 1947. How on Earth could this be happening?

"Imagine Captain Rogers' surprise when you show up at lunch and you're his age again," Synthia said, practicing the older woman's English-accented voice. "He won't know what to do."

"He'll see right through this," Peggy argued. "He'll know you aren't me."

"We'll see about that," Synthia said. "I have a feeling that _Steve_ will be so overwhelmed with happiness that he'll do _anything_ I ask. Maybe I'll even get him to marry me before I kill him."

"He won't fall for you. He's in love with my niece," Peggy said. Half a second later, she realized her fatal error.

"Maybe I'll have him kill her so I don't have to do it," Synthia said, smiling evilly. "This is going to be the most fun I've ever had."

"Sister Sin," a thickly accent voice said from outside the doorway.

"What?" she barked back at him.

"It's time to go," he said quietly.

"Make sure our prisoner gets some food, I want her alive so she can watch the demise of her beloved Captain America and her terribly annoying niece," Synthia replied back.

"Yes, of course, Sister Sin," he replied.

The newer, younger Peggy winked at the woman bound to her chair.

"It's showtime!" she said before leaving the room and slamming the door behind her once more.

…

Amanda and Steve left the Avenger's mansion exceedingly early. She wanted to make sure that they had plenty of time to walk to the restaurant; Amanda didn't want Happy to drive them. She knew he would be told by Tony to listen to every detail of their conversation and they didn't need that added pressure.

People walking down the street, the captain was attracting plenty of attention from onlookers. Some stopped and stared and some children actually started to follow behind. They had seen him on the news and they were excited that their comic book hero was on the same street as them.

Steve looked down at Amanda with a confused expression as someone showed him the t-shirt he was wearing; an image of his shield across his chest.

"You're a hero, Steve," Amanda replied. "They made comic books about you, amongst other things."

Steve stared at her in disbelief before continuing to follow her down the street.

After stopping to sign an autograph, and shake the hands of some men in army uniforms, they reached their destination.

They were led to a table, near the window, so Amanda could keep an eye out for potential issues. But what she didn't foresee was definitely the woman walking towards them.

"Oh my god," Amanda said, once the woman arrived at their table.

Steve, who had been studying the menu in front of him, looked up and into the familiar face of his first love.

"Peggy?" Steve said.

"Yes, Steve, isn't it wonderful?"

…

Dun, dun, dun…..

As always, thank you for reading and feel free to leave a little bit of love in the form of a review.


	13. Chapter 13

Into the New World

Chapter 13

"Oh my god," Amanda said, once the woman arrived at their table.

Steve, who had been studying the menu in front of him, looked up and into the familiar face of his first love.

"Peggy?" Steve said.

"Yes, Steve, isn't it wonderful?" Peggy smiled, letting him get a good look at her.

He fumbled to stand from his seated position to pull out a chair for Peggy.

Amanda's expression was blank as she watched Steve pull Peggy into an uncharacteristic hug.

"Aren't you going to give your dear auntie a hug?" Peggy asked Amanda, who was still firmly planted in her seat, a dumbstruck expression upon her face.

"What happened?" Amanda said, finally said, still seated.

'Peggy' narrowed her eyes at her niece, but didn't get angry at the girl's forwardness.

"Just something a friend of mine at university was working on. Once Steve was found, I thought it would be the perfect time to test it out," Peggy said.

"But what if it hadn't worked?" Amanda questioned. "You shouldn't be so cavalier in testing experiments on yourself. What if it ended up like Doctor Banner?"

"It wasn't cavalier, darling," she smiled. "So, shall we have some lunch? I'm starved," Peggy said.

Steve was beaming ear to ear as Peggy took the seat he'd pulled out and he pushed her closer to the table.

"So, how are things going?" Peggy asked. "What wonderful conversations did I interrupt?"

Steve began to talk to Peggy about his training efforts and meeting the other Avengers. Peggy sat, leaning on her elbow on the table and listening raptly as he went over the details. Amanda sat quietly, not focusing on either of them. Her mind was trying to work out what was going on.

Amanda needed someone else to see this. She pulled out her cell phone and turned on the camera function.

"Hey, would you guys mind if I got a picture? Today is a momentous occasion!" Amanda faked. "I would like to remember the day that the young Peggy Carter was reunited with her Captain America."

"Of course, darling," Peggy replied. Without hesitation, she threw her arms around Steve and moved her head in close for the picture.

Amanda snapped the picture and busied herself by sending the picture to Director Fury and Tony Stark instead of listening to the two of them.

Tony's response was immediate: '_Wth?'_

Nick Fury's response was slightly behind, but conveyed the same message. And added a '_Proceed with caution'_ for good measure.

None of it was good advice. None of it made sense. What was going on?

"Steve, please let me take you to a movie," Peggy said. "I want you to see New York in the present."

Steve didn't appear to understand the immediate threat that this caused. Despite being a 'superhero', he didn't seem to get that this just wasn't making sense. But maybe it was because he hadn't known this particular woman since the 1940s. Maybe it was because something was finally familiar in this new world.

"I don't know if that is such a great idea," Amanda said. "I don't think parading Captain Rogers around New York City is ideal."

"Don't be such a worry-wart, sweetie," Peggy said. She turned to Steve. "Mandy worries about everything. Anyway, the man should get the opportunity to see the world! He's Captain America, darling…"

"I know who he is, Aunt Peggy," Amanda mumbled.

"Ladies," Steve finally interrupted. "I would like the opportunity to see New York, but if you don't think that I should, Amanda, I can wait until a more appropriate time."

He looked back and forth to each woman; they were almost like twins sitting on either side of them.

Amanda didn't want to tell the poor guy no. The look on his face said it all: he wanted to go with her. And her Aunt Peggy was right; she did worry about everything. She was going to relax and let her aunt show Steve around. Besides, he _was_ Captain America, after all. He was going to be able to take care of himself if something came up. Why should she be suspicious of her own aunt?

"I guess after lunch, it would be okay if you spent some time out in the city. We've got some things to do tonight, but I'm sure it'll be all right," Amanda said.

"Maybe we could all have dinner at the house tonight," Steve suggested. 

Amanda didn't know what to say; she merely shook her head and attempted a smile.

Listening to Aunt Peggy and Steve talk, Amanda was more and more convinced that while the circumstances were odd, that this was definitely her aunt. The stories she told and her mannerisms were all there. She ordered her typical lunch and scolded Amanda's posture the same way she always did. By the end of the meal, Amanda was smiling and beginning to relax.

Aunt Peggy insisted on paying for their meals and they walked outside the restaurant.

"You should come with us," Steve said earnestly. But Amanda caught the briefest of dirty looks from her aunt and Amanda shook her head.

"I don't think so," Amanda said. "I should probably get back to help Tony. You two have a wonderful afternoon and I'll let JARVIS know that we have a guest tonight."

Her aunt kissed her goodbye on the cheek and Steve pulled her aside.

"Are you sure you won't come along?" he asked.

"I'm sure," Amanda smiled. "You should take the chance. Have a good time," Amanda said. "Oh! Do you have your phone on you?"

Steve fished in his pockets for a minute and produced a small silver cell phone.

"Do you remember how to dial on it?"

Steve smiled. "Yes," he laughed.

"If you need anything, call me. Don't hesitate, okay?" Amanda said. Her voice was steady but something different, pleading almost, was clear in her blue eyes.

Steve wasn't sure what she was getting at, but he nodded okay.

Amanda said good bye to them and headed back towards the Avenger's headquarters.

Synthia Schmitt was smiling as she, as Peggy Carter, linked arms with the man who destroyed her family. She would win his trust, which didn't seem so hard, and bring down Captain America, the other Avengers and the entire SHIELD operative.

Synthia, or known to her HYDRA followers as Sin, was the granddaughter of the one daughter that Johann Schmitt thought he had better have. While the man was usually too power hungry to think about the fairer sex, and he also definitely thought he would live forever, he realized that he needed to sire an heir. An heir that could take over if, and that word was tossed around lightly because of his brazenness and confidence with himself and HYDRA itself, _if_ he was taken out.

The Red Skull had found a suitable mate in a maid that worked for him. He had met the daughter that was born of that union only once, but it was enough. She had seen the man, and knew that she was going to devote her life to following her father. And then her son decided the same. And finally, there was Sin and she was more like her great grandfather than anyone in her family even wanted to begin to understand.

"Where would you like to go first, Steve?" Peggy asked. "We can go up to Brooklyn and look around or…"

Steve was trying to be optimistic; after all, this was the first woman who had bothered to show him any interest. And instead of her being three times his age like she'd been a few days ago, now she was his age. And for all intensive purposes, this was Peggy Carter. The same woman who had helped him fight in the war. The same woman who had shot at him to help him test his shield.

But something didn't feel right.

He had noticed certain uneasiness in Amanda, despite her attempts to hide it. She had remained guarded through their conversations at lunch and then there was the hesitation to leave him alone with Peggy for the afternoon. And then there was the business about the phone. Why would he need to call her? Something was up.

He was going to find out what it was.

So Steve smiled down at the woman and they began to head out into the city. And he was going to make sure he didn't give any more details out until he'd figured this whole thing out.

…

The afternoon passed quickly. Amanda headed back to her apartment, to grab her aunt's suitcase and to pack a suitcase for herself. Fury wanted them both to stay at the house to keep track of everything going on; he was not pleased to hear about this turn of events with Peggy Carter, particularly so closely following the bombing of Stark Tower.

Upon her arrival back at the house, she was greeted by Tony Stark and Pepper Potts arguing loudly in the kitchen. The sounds of their argument travelled all the way down hall. It's nice to know that Pepper arrived back safely from California.

"…no, I distinctly remember leaving you in charge of Stark Industries," Tony said. "I'm like the Queen of England, a figurehead."

"Tony, now that you aren't _dying_, by the way, you still haven't apologized for _not_ telling me that, you need to be the CEO. It's _your_ company, _your_ namesake," Pepper argued.

Tony had heard the front door of the house and had started to move towards the sound. Pepper followed him, continuing the argument.

Amanda didn't really want to be a part of this squabble, but by the loud voices getting louder by the second, she prepared herself to be dragged in.

"MandyAnn, you're back, how was lunch?" Tony asked.

"Don't change the subject, Stark," Pepper said. "Hello, Amanda," she said.

"Don't let me interrupt, I'm just going to find rooms for Aunt Peggy and I," Amanda said, trying to duck the conversation.

"Not so fast, MandyAnn," Tony said. "What the hell is going on with your aunt?"

"I have no idea what's going on. I wish I knew," Amanda said. "She said she has a friend at the university who has created a serum that has turned her age back. Aunt Peggy said that since she knew Steve was back that it was the perfect time to try it."

"You don't believe her, do you?" Pepper said, interjecting before Tony could.

"No," Amanda said. "Something's up and I have no idea what it is." 

"Where's Cap?" Tony asked.

"He insisted that he go out on the town with her. Far be it from me to stop Captain America from doing something he wants to do. I'm just hoping that he could tell something wasn't right, either."

"Nothing against that guy, but I don't know that he'd get that message unless…"

Amanda stopped him. "Steve is a smart guy, Tony! And," she could feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes at the thought. "And Steve will either figure out whatever is going on or…or fall back in love with my aunt. I have to believe that."

She said nothing else and exited the lobby, choosing the hall that would take her to the available guest rooms.

A/N: Okay, there was the latest installment (no wicked cliffhanger this time). As always, send me a review, so I know what I can improve upon. Thanks all!


	14. Chapter 14

Hello everyone! I am sooooo sorry for not updating sooner. Hopefully this chapter will make everyone less mad at me. (Fingers crossed) Anyway, please read and be terribly excited with me that Avengers opens in a couple of days!

Into the New World

Chapter 14

"Do you really think these folks'll show up?" Steve Rogers asked. "It's the middle of the night."

"Director Fury can be very persuasive," Agent Phil Coulson replied.

"Do you know if Amanda…I mean, Doctor Carter, is going to be coming?"

"I would assume so. The only reason she could have to get out of this is untimely death, and since I spoke with her not half an hour ago, I'm expecting her shortly."

"Oh, okay," Steve said, pretending not to care as much as he did.

It had been another two weeks of awkward moments between him and Amanda. Steve had felt tasked with entertaining the newly young Peggy Carter, despite his growing infatuation with Amanda. And entertaining Peggy had been taking up most of his free time.

Steve had been reporting to the medical department for the tests that Fury had ordered, and he and Amanda would make small talk until it was just too uncomfortable for everyone. And every time he'd see her, he would invite her out with them, but Amanda always said no and Peggy seemed more and more excited each time.

"I understand you've been spending a lot of time with Ms. Carter," Coulson said, attempting to make conversation. He probably should have kept his query to himself, but hey, what the hell? The Captain was one of his heroes.

"Uh, I guess," Steve said, putting a hand through his hair. He didn't really want to talk to Coulson about this.

The topic of women always made him nervous, but talking to an almost complete stranger sounded like total torture.

"She's just been showing me around New York again. It might as well be a whole different planet," Steve said.

"It's a bit odd that she let herself be experimented on, don't you think, Captain?" Coulson asked.

"Well, to be honest, Agent Coulson, I don't know. Even though I knew Peggy 60-some years ago, she's completely different now. Back in the war, she and I didn't get much of a chance to get to know one another," Steve said.

"May I speak freely, Captain Rogers?" Agent Coulson asked.

The two of them were still alone waiting for whoever else was supposed to be joining them.

The Captain nodded; he wanted to know what the SHIELD agent was going to say.

"Please let me know if I've gone too far, but SHIELD has the most current and up to date technology. We monitor all experimentation, including that the university-level. And that includes the University of Virginia."

Coulson continued in his usual monotone, but Steve wasn't an idiot. He was giving the Captain a message.

"You're saying that you don't believe Peggy," Steve asked, emotionless.

"All I'm saying, Captain Rogers, with all due respect, and it's my opinion, not that of SHIELD's, but I would check the facts with Ms. Carter," Coulson said.

In fact, that _was_ the official thought on Peggy Carter.

Fury and other high-ups in SHIELD, except Amanda, had met and discussed the situation. Behind-the-scenes research was being done on Peggy. And having her move in to the SHIELD headquarters was so she could be under constant surveillance. And unknown to Captain Rogers was that every single one of his outings with Peggy had been under surveillance. Every conversation was recorded and replayed for clues.

Steve wasn't sure if he believed the man he was speaking with. While it had seemed totally odd that Peggy had gone through this particular experiment. Steve felt as though he knew this woman.

They had shared stories of being back in the war. Peggy talked about living the past 70 years without him. What Coulson was saying didn't make any sense at all.

But Steve didn't have any more time to think about the quandary; people were joining them in the meeting room.

Agents Barton and Romanoff, better known as Hawkeye and Black Widow, led a group of people into the meeting room. Captain Rogers watched as they all filed into the room. He recognized a couple of them and he fought a grimace.

One of them was definitely that same orange rock person from the day the Hulk was on his rampage. It was hard to forget an individual like that.

The other person Steve recognized was the idiot who almost got Amanda Carter killed that same day.

There were two others, a man and a woman, so Steve thought back to his research: this four was the Fantastic Four.

Coulson moved from his position next to Steve and crossed the room. Steve hung back as Coulson greeted the other SHIELD agents and the others in the room.

Next into the room was Doctor Banner. He always looked exhausted and ragged, but at three a.m. it was exacerbated. But whatever it was that was keeping him as Bruce instead of the Hulk was working, and everyone could be grateful for that.

After Banner, Agent Hill came through the door, leading even more people that Steve didn't recognize, but he was sure he was going to know them soon.

Director Fury came in next as everyone was finding a seat. He was walking with a man in a very fancy suit and sunglasses and he was using a long white cane. Fury was clearly happy to see this individual; he was laughing at something with him.

The only people missing from the group, as far as Captain Rogers knew, were Tony Stark and Amanda. And it appeared that Fury noticed as well.

"Where are Stark and Carter?" his unhappiness clear in his booming voice.

Right on cue, Amanda Carter came into the room, looking uneasy as she dragged a half-asleep Tony Stark by the wrist.

"C'mon, Tony," Amanda said, exasperation evident in her voice. "My apologies, director."

The director's face didn't change, so Amanda pushed Tony into a chair as quickly and quietly as she could.

Steve watched as Stark argued with her and tried to pull the exhausted woman into his lap. He thought he might have to step in and help Amanda, but she whispered something in Stark's ear and he immediately let go.

"All right," Fury began. "Now that we're all here, let's get going. Thank you all for arriving here so early in the morning. Let's go around the room and introduce yourselves. Carter, you start."

Amanda stood and realized she was terribly underdressed compared to the rest of the group. But since she'd spent all kinds of time wrestling Tony out of his lab and up to the meeting room, she had no chance to change out of her pajamas.

"I'm Doctor Amanda Carter," she said. "And this is Tony Stark; some of you might know him as Iron Man."

She cast a dirty look in the snoring man's direction and kicked him with her toe to get him to wake up. But she couldn't blame him; he'd been working for two days running tests on _the cube._

Steve listened intently as each person introduced themselves. He was right about the Fantastic Four: Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing. Apparently, Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman were married with a child and another on the way.

Another couple, Giant-Man and the Wasp, were introduced next.

So far, all of them were scientists who had created, intentionally or otherwise, their particular superhuman abilities. Steve had already felt uncomfortable, and it was getting increasingly worse as everyone introduced themselves.

Next was the well-dressed man, whose name was Matthew Murdock. His alias was Dare Devil. After him came a kid who looked like he was still in high school. His name was Peter Parker and he called himself Spiderman. Steve had read that he had been bitten by a radioactive spider and since then he'd had superhuman abilities.

The rest of the SHIELD group introduced themselves and then it came to be Steve's turn.

"I'm Captain Steve Rogers…" he started.

"Captain America…" a hushed voice said from the back of the room.

Steve wasn't sure if he should say anything else; they all knew who he was, apparently.

"Like I said, thank you all for making the trip here," Fury said. "We have a situation on our hands. The so-called 'random' acts of terrorist violence that have been occurring all over the world, aren't really so random.

"We've been doing night and day research and we've found that HYDRA is on it's way back," Fury finished.

Steve was immediately alarmed.

"HYDRA?" Steve asked. "Schmitt was the leader of HYDRA and I killed him. The US military defeated the remaining pockets…"

"Cap, as much as I didn't want to have to tell you this, but HYDRA is back. HYDRA is behind the bombing at Stark Tower and HYDRA is behind the other attacks. That's why I've called you all here. We have to figure out where their headquarters are. We have reason to believe that it's actually right here in the city," Fury announced.

HYDRA was ahead of their time 70 years ago and now they had to be using all of their resources to their best abilities.

"Do we know what they want?" Hank Pym, Giant-Man, asked.

"They haven't made so much as a peep as to what they are after, which makes them even more dangerous," Fury said.

"So how do we even know its HYDRA and not just a copy-cat?" Matt asked. "I read about HYDRA, a long time ago, but they were similar to Nazis, right? Would they be after the same thing in 2012 as they were in 1943?"

Steve sat silently. Most of the eyes were on him; waiting for a response from the good ol' Captain America. But he had none. He remembered defeating the Red Skull, but what if he'd survived the same way he had?

Steve had to leave the room.

"I…I have to go. Please excuse me," Rogers said before hurriedly rushing out of the room.

Tony was still snoring as the discussion continued.

Steve started walking around the dark house. He needed to clear his head. The Captain had been having nightmares about the war lately, and now that HYDRA was back, his nightmares were coming true.

But he didn't have a chance to think on it any longer. Alarms started to go off all over the house. He rushed to where he heard a clamor and realized someone had run out the front door.

Steve followed the person out the door. He didn't know who he was following, or why he was following them, but they were running and Steve knew something was up.

Amanda Carter had excused herself from the discussion as well before the alarms had gone off. She was concerned about Steve, despite the awkwardness of him dating her aunt, and wanted to make sure he was okay.

She had heard a commotion as she walked down the hall and she started to follow the sounds. Before she could exit the house as the alarms started, JARVIS stopped her and alerted her to her bare feet. She pulled on a pair of boots that the AI made available for her and she followed the Captain and the person he was chasing out the door.

…

Please review! Thanks!


	15. Chapter 15

Hey everyone! Here's my next chapter. I've had over 10,000 hits to this story so far and I'm just so excited! Thank you to everyone who is reading this! I hope you all enjoy!

Into the New World

Chapter 15

"Oh dear lord," Tony yelled as the alarms began blaring. "Can't you and your SHIELD idiots get your shit together long enough to keep the alarms from going off?" he asked rudely. "Or is this another fire drill?"

Fury opened up his mouth to say something rude in response, but JARVIS cut him off.

"Sir," JARVIS began. "The alarms were triggered by someone blowing up the vault in which the tesseract was being housed."

"Where are the guards that were positioned there? They need to be questioned," Fury said.

Hawkeye and Black Widow began to move from their places on the wall, but Tony stopped them.

"That would be impossible," Tony said. He had pulled up that particular security camera feed on his phone and was studying it.

"And why is that, Stark?" Fury asked.

"The guards look pretty dead," Tony replied.

The assembled group began to realize the immediate danger.

Tony was exhausted; he'd been awake for two days. He'd been running tests on that damn blue cube and he was finally beginning to understand the sheer power that it held.

"The tesseract belongs back in Asgard," Thor said. "It belongs to my father."

"We _do_ know that, Thor," Fury said. "And we aren't denying that. But while it and you are on…Midgard…we are going to find out what it can do."

"It is it's own energy source," Tony explained. "Based on notes from my father and speaking with Rogers—this cube is what powered the HYDRA weapons," Tony continued.

"We need to find out who took it," Bruce said. "And why they need it."

"The tesseract emits a certain level of gamma radiation. That's something we know about, right Doctor Banner?" Tony asked.

"Well…"

"That was rhetorical," Tony replied. "JARVIS, bring up the footage."

The AI complied and the wall in front of them changed into one giant plasma screen displaying the large vault where the tesseract had been stored.

It began to play and a woman in a SHIELD uniform was casually strolling toward the guarded vault. The woman looked remarkably like Agent Carter and neither guard looked alarmed at her presence at all; in fact, they seemed to be enjoying the company of the beautiful woman. However, the guards' looks of pleasure turned to horror in one quick moment.

One guard was stabbed in the chest and neck and the other was soon sprawled face down with a broken neck.

Moving around the now-deceased guards on the shiny marble floor, the woman began attaching something to the vault door. She pressed a button and the door opened slightly. The woman pulled on the door and it fell open the rest of the way; hanging limply on one hinge. A blue light was cast on her as well as the hall for a quick second.

She didn't waste time; she reached in to take the cube and shoved it into a bag as the alarms began to alert everyone else in the building. As quickly as she came, she was running for an exit.

"Why weren't there more guards positioned there?" Hank Pym asked. "If this is _so_ important?"

"Pym, go back to playing with your bugs," Tony replied snidely.

"Excuse me, Stark?" Hank replied. "At least I'm doing real research instead of providing weapons to questionable sources. Fury, if he's going to act like an ass, I'm out. In fact, I'm out for sure. Find your own damn cube. C'mon Janet."

Hank Pym stood and pulled on his wife's wrist.

"Doctor Pym, please…"

"No, Fury. You're on your own."

Hank and Janet exited the meeting room.

Silence immediately followed for a moment as Fury surveyed the rest of the group.

"Okay, Coulson, please take our guests and show them out and then get back here," Fury said. "Thank you for coming, folks."

The group of guests looked at each other; they were totally confused as to why they were called in the middle of the night and now were being sent away.

"Are you sure you don't need us?" Peter Parker asked.

Fury said nothing; he just looked at them with his one eye.

Coulson moved to show them all out of the house as none of them wanted to argue with this man.

"You just sent them all away?" Tony yelled. "The single most important piece of equipment we had was taken by someone impersonating Amanda, which by the way, where the hell is she, and you just send the people that could help us away?"

"Well, the plan I was about to lay out, for your information, didn't include the cube being stolen, Stark," Fury said. "The plan will have to be adapted."

"If I didn't know Amanda so well, I would say that it was her taking the tesseract," Hawkeye said.

"That wasn't Amanda," Natasha said. "Why would she blow the vault up? She has security clearance."

"And she was with me when I was working with it in my lab," Tony said.

"You're right, Natasha," Fury said. "It wasn't Amanda."

"JARVIS, get a read on Mandy's location," Tony said. "She must still be in the house—"

"Sir, she's actually in midtown Manhattan," JARVIS said.

"What?" Natasha said. "She ran to midtown Manhattan?"

"She is following Captain Rogers," the AI said. "The Captain is in pursuit of Peggy Carter. Ms. Carter is the one who broke into the vault."

"That's not Peggy Carter either," Fury said.

"Then who is it?" Thor and Bruce asked at the same time.

"An imposter," Fury said.

"You knew about this and we've just been sitting on our asses?" Tony yelled.

"I agree with Stark; if you had information about the tesseract and it's now gone, you've put the world at risk," Thor said. "That cube…it can destroy all of Midgard, as well as all of the other realms."

"We have to go," Bruce said. "We may not be much of a team, but we can't just let Cap and Carter go off on their own. It kind of seems like you _let_ them do that."

Bruce Banner had been doing a terrific job of keeping calm up. But finding out that Fury was keeping secrets from them was pushing him to the edge.

"Hold on big guy," Tony said. "We are going, but don't get mad until we get out of the house."

"You _will not_ go anywhere," Fury said.

Everyone was confused by his statement; even Hawkeye looked up at them.

"I don't give a shit what you say, I'm going," Tony announced. "And you are all welcome to join me."

Tony started to walk out of the room, with the others following.

"Stark, you don't know what you're going up against!" Fury called.

Tony turned around to look at the man in the eye patch. "That might be true, but, I'm not going to let Cap and Amanda go after it alone and unarmed."

He flipped the director off for good measure and stalked out of the room.

…

Captain Rogers had followed his instincts and ran out the door chasing whoever it was. And as he continued to run, his instincts said someone else was following him. Stopping to see if the person was a threat, he lost sight of the person he was following.

Amanda saw Steve come to a halt ahead of her and look at her intently. She had kept up fairly well, considering his sheer speed and agility, but she was very grateful he stopped.

Amanda was breathing hard as Steve walked back towards her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Amanda took a deep breath and exhaled.

"I'm fine," she said.

"I think your aunt was in a hurry," Steve said, smirking in direction.

Amanda looked up into his eyes. "That woman _isn't_ my aunt."

"Well, then, we need to figure out where she went."

But before either of them could make a move, something hit Amanda in the neck. She touched it, a dart. A wave of dizziness came over her and she fell forward into Steve's arms as she succumbed to it.

Steve was so busy worrying about the woman in his arms, he didn't notice the individual creeping up behind him until it was too late. What felt like a barrel of a gun was pressed to his back, between his shoulder blades and soon everything went black.

…

Okay, shorter than normal, but I'm trying to update more often. Please leave a review, because I love them. Thanks in advance!


	16. Chapter 16

Here's the next installment. It's extra long so everyone would be happy and could get their fair share of Cap.

Thanks to everyone who has added me to their favorites and alerts; it really inspires me to keep writing. Hopefully everyone loves it!

Into the New World

Chapter 16

Captain Steve Rogers was having a rather pleasant moment. The sun was shining and he was enjoying a barefoot walk, hand in hand, with a woman. He felt himself smile because it felt so right that they were together and he could feel the roughness of the sand between his toes. They were watching a child, a young boy with light brown hair and blue eyes, giggle and play in the sand a few steps ahead of them.

Steve noticed the glint of something shiny on his left hand; a simple wedding band. He was happier than he had felt in a long time and he felt a sense of pride swell up in his chest. This was _his_ family.

The woman stopped walking and turned toward him. It was Amanda, as he'd hoped. She smiled and put a hand to his cheek to caress it lightly. But then the light touch suddenly turned rough as the woman dug her nails into his cheek.

That was when he woke up. Blinking into the light, he found out that it wasn't Amanda digging her nails into his face.

The face, and eyes, that looked back into his own reminded him of someone, particularly as the woman's lips curved into a maniacal grin.

Steve immediately tried to move but found himself struggling against tight bindings at his wrists, chest, knees and ankles.

"It's futile, Captain," the red haired woman in front of him said. "The bindings are made of Adamantium-mesh."

Steve's arms were both straight out, at right angles from his body. It was uncomfortable, but it didn't stop him from fighting against the bindings. He also felt a stinging in the center of his shoulder blades from whatever it was that they had used to subdue him.

"Who are you?" Steve asked hoarsely. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out, but his mouth was dry and his tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth.

"I'm surprised, Captain. I was told you were a very intelligent man," the woman replied. "I'm Synthea Schmitt—"

"Schmitt?" Steve asked, immediately fearing the worst.

"Yes, Captain Rogers," she said. "You killed my great-grandfather. And now you are going to pay for destroying my family."

…

"Track them, JARVIS," Tony said as he stormed into his lab. Tony wasn't sure if this Avenger thing was ever going to work out, but he wasn't going to let Cap and Amanda run off on their own and be unarmed while doing it. Cap was strong, but without his shield, he was a sitting duck.

"I'm sorry, sir," the AI replied. "I can't pick up a signal on Agent Carter or Captain Rogers."

Bruce Banner had joined him in the lab. "Does that mean they're dead already?"

"I see you always see the bright side of things, Dr. Banner," Tony replied.

"I would have thought you'd figured that out by now, Stark," Bruce replied, smirking slightly.

"JARVIS, where and when was the exact location of their last signal?" Tony asked. He turned to Bruce. "It just means that they found their GPS trackers and have disabled them."

The room was silent except for Hawkeye and Natasha joining them.

"Fury wouldn't even come down here," Hawkeye said.

"You would think he would be more concerned…since the leader of his little initiative and one of top his agents are missing," Tony said. "Where's Thor?"

"He said something about trying to track the tesseract himself," Natasha said. "He was going to find Dr. Foster."

"Great, that's terrifically helpful," Tony replied.

"He thought since it was Asgardian, that he would be able to find it," Hawkeye said.

"Sir," JARVIS began. "I found footage from red-light camera of Captain Rogers and Doctor Carter."

"Okay, JARVIS, pull it up," Tony said.

They all turned to the screen on the far wall and waited for the playback to begin.

A grainy black and white image appeared and they all watched in silence as first Amanda passed out into Cap's arms and then someone in all black pressed a stun gun to the center of Steve's shoulder blades. Both of their fellow team members were unconscious within seconds and were being taken away.

"So whoever this was, they knew that what they would need to take down a super-soldier. That had to be a higher voltage stun gun," Hawkeye said. "And they knew to find the GPS transmitters on them."

"JARVIS, can you track their movements through the red light cameras?" Tony said. "Or any other security cameras?"

"Beginning my search now," JARVIS replied.

"While we're waiting, you might want to get ready to go," Tony told the rest of the team.

…

The effects of the dart were starting to wear off and Amanda Carter was starting to come around. She opened one eye cautiously.

She was tethered tightly to a chair, a very uncomfortable one at that. There was a stinging in the left side of her neck, presumably where the poisoned dart hit her. She tried to lift an arm to rub it, but found her arm wouldn't go anywhere. Amanda's vision was still a little bit fuzzy, but she seemed to be in a very clinical setting.

Amanda tried harder to break the bindings at her wrists, but it was useless. They were definitely too strong.

How did she get herself into this mess? Oh yes, she remembered. She followed Steve, who was following someone pretending to be her aunt.

"Sister Sin!" a man called. "She's awake."

Amanda closed her eyes and shook her head. "This can't be good."

Amanda could hear boots clicking on the hard tiled floor behind her.

Before Amanda could say anything else, her head was pulled back by her hair and she was immediately staring into a pair of devilish eyes.

"Hello, Agent Carter," the woman said.

"Who are you?" Amanda asked.

The red-headed woman scoffed. "I'm starting to get really tired of having to introduce myself."

"Well once I get free of these chains you won't ever have to worry about introducing yourself again," Amanda said.

The woman laughed. "You and your Captain are ridiculous! Neither of you will be able to break free of your bindings. Open up the wall!" she yelled.

The man to the side of the room pressed a lever and the wall before Amanda opened up, allowing a free view of Steve Rogers, who was bound up in a standing position.

"Amanda!" Steve called. He tried to move again, but was still very stuck where he was.

"The both of you are so ridiculous! In love, yet, absolutely doomed. I originally thought I would just get pleasure out of killing _the_ Captain America, for what he did to my family, but since I discovered this…_love_…maybe I'll kill her and make you watch," Sin said as she looked into Steve's eyes.

"And how do you expect to make me do that?" Steve asked, hands clenching into fists. "Because it won't be done if I have anything to say about it."

"Well of course you wouldn't do it on your own," Sin said. "I have some _wonderful_ persuasive abilities," she said, placing a kiss on the Captain's cheek.

He shook her away, the best he could, as an angry vein started to pulse in his neck.

"Steve, it's okay," Amanda said quietly.

"What are you saying!" Steve yelled. "Amanda! Fight whatever they're doing to you!" he tried to convince her.

But it was too late. The thoughts had already invaded her mind.

_Just let go, Amanda. He's Captain America. He doesn't need you. He's just going to leave you anyway; why delay the inevitable?_

Steve saw Amanda start to slump in the chair; the light was starting to disappear from her eyes.

"Amanda! Don't listen!" Steve said. He didn't know what exactly was happening, but he knew it wasn't good.

"Don't waste the breath, Captain," Sin said. "Her mind already belongs to me."

_Amanda, it's useless to fight it. Just let it happen. Once you just come to terms with your death, it won't be hard for Steve either._

Amanda blinked as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. They stung as they formed. And she knew she had to listen to this voice of reason. She didn't want to make it hard for Steve; she wanted to make him happy. And this voice was so…_pleasant._

"When I let Captain Rogers free, he'll kill you. Make any moves beside that one, Captain and you and this whole building will light up like Fourth of July," Sin said. "And that will include the prize in door number two."

On cue, another wall revealed a woman, who looked pale and sickly, bound and hunched in a chair.

"Peggy! No!" Steve called. But that was also useless. She couldn't hear him and was obviously too tired to look up at him.

He was never going to be able to save the both of them. It was an impossible decision to make. How could he, in good conscience, choose one to live and the other to perish? And hesitating would get all of them killed.

"I know the depth of your tactical skills, Captain. I know what you're trying to do. But the entire building is rigged with explosives. Crossbones!" she called.

A burly man with a skull on his mask came into the room.

"Take the blood sample, love," Sin said.

"Of course, Sin," the man in the mask replied. He moved forward with a syringe in his hand.

Steve realized what was happening.

"You can't have my blood," he said. "You can't re-create the serum."

Sin raised an eyebrow in response, then laughed loudly.

"Do you really think you're in any position to tell me what I can and cannot do?" she asked. "Do it," she said to Crossbones.

Crossbones took the syringe and stuck it unceremoniously into the Captain's forearm. Steve yelped in shock as the needle dug into his arm.

For a brief second, Amanda was brought out of her stupor, at the sound of Steve's pain and she fought to keep ownership of her own mind. But the voice came back.

_I'll all be over soon, Amanda. If you have any feelings for this man at all, you'll just let him kill you and leave this building unharmed. The world needs their hero still, but it doesn't need you._

Amanda nodded silently as the calm voice coached her. She would let Captain Rogers do what was necessary. There would be no fight.

"Amanda! Fight it! Look at me, Amanda! We're going to get out of this!" Steve yelled. He was hoping he could be more convincing than what was in her head, but he couldn't be sure she could even hear him. Steve strained against the Adamantium bindings. He didn't know what Adamantium was, but it was definitely strong. "Amanda! Please, look at me!"

_Don't look at him. He's lying to you. You mean nothing to him._

Amanda's eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped as far forward as her bindings allowed.

"No, no, no," Sin said. "You will stay awake!" she yelled as she slapped Amanda hard across the face.

Amanda came back awake, but her eyes remained unfocused for a few more moments.

Sin pulled Amanda's head back by her hair again and the pain and shock registered on her face. For another moment, she was brought out of her hypnotized state.

"I want you to be awake when he kills you," Sin said menacingly. "I want you to feel it."

"Your great-grandfather wasn't nearly as sadistic as you are," Steve said through gritted teeth.

"Thank you, Captain," she smiled. "Now, we have business that we have to attend to, so I'm going to release you. If you make one false move, we'll stun gun you again and set the place ablaze. Do you understand?" Sin asked.

Steve still didn't have a clue as to what he was going to do. Amanda wasn't going to be able to help him and he was going to have to get both her and her aunt out of this mess. And if he didn't kill Amanda, this building, wherever it was, was going to be blown up along with everything inside it.

Steve nodded a positive response and the tight bindings immediately were removed from him. He stepped forward and took a deep breath.

"Not so fast, Captain Rogers," Crossbones said. "Choose a weapon."

A wall of weapons appeared and Steve did a double take.

"What has she ever done that she needs to die?" Steve asked.

Sin stepped forward, towards the Captain, cocking her head to one side. "Really? You have to ask?"

Steve said nothing.

"My grandfather grew up without a father because you killed him. My great-grandmother was left with nothing because he left nothing for her; she was just a maid. My family has had to work its way out of the darkest depths to be where we are now, and to avenge my family, I want to take something you love from you," she said, poking a long red painted fingernail into the Captain's hard chest. "Do you understand now, Captain? Was that clear enough?" Her voice had risen to a loud, angry pitch. Clearly this was something she'd been practicing saying for a while.

"Now, kill her! Or you all die right now!"

…

Okay…so how was that? Leave me a review. I know I love them. There's some schawarma for anyone who does ;)


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Hey everyone! Here's the next installment! I just wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this story and the 17 people who left me reviews for the last chapter. I hope it was worth the wait. Please let me know!

Into the New World

Chapter 17

Agent Phil Coulson was running as fast as he could. None of the team members were answering their phones or communicators and Fury wanted answers from them. He let himself into the lab where the others were working furiously.

"We're in crisis mode and none of you could respond to Fury's calls?" Coulson asked, surveying the group.

Tony didn't bother to look up from what he was doing. "Nope," he replied. "And we don't have the time for you, either, Coulson."

"While I am thrilled that you've finally learned my name, Stark, but we have to find Rogers and Carter," Coulson replied.

"What do you think we've been doing?" Bruce replied.

"I can help; I can get into the SHIELD secure servers. Fury just wants to keep on top of…"

"One, Banner and I got us into the _secure_ servers for almost an hour ago," Tony replied. "Two, Fury didn't want us to do anything, so no; he doesn't get to know anything. Maybe you should just go look for Thor."

Agent Coulson looked around at the group again. Thor was definitely absent from the assembled group.

"Where _is_ Thor?"

"We don't know," Bruce said slowly, enunciating every syllable. "That's why you should go find him. He might have figured out how to find the tesseract, but if _we_ can't find it, I doubt he could either."

"Bruce, calm down," Natasha said.

"Yeah, don't go getting all angry in my lab," Tony said. "We have enough issues as it is."

"Listen, Coulson," Hawkeye said. "You can either help us or not, but remember, if you don't, your hero is as good as dead."

"Fine, I'm in," Coulson said.

"Good, because we don't have much time."

"Wait…I think I've got something," Natasha said. "One of the GPS trackers has been activated again."

…

Captain Rogers was trying to make up his mind. He could tell that this person, Synthea Schmitt, was trying to break into his head; to control his thoughts, but Steve was trying to fight it. That must be what was controlling Amanda. He wished he knew what she was telling Amanda so he could help her fight it.

"Captain, you're about to be released from the Adamantium bindings. You'll choose a weapon, you'll kill…_her_…and you'll save yourself and the old lady. Got it?" Sin said.

Steve nodded. He needed to figure out his plan in the next ten seconds.

The Adamantium bonds slid away and Steve rolled his shoulders to try and work out the soreness.

"Remember, Captain, if you don't eliminate her, this whole place is set up to blow," Sin said. She turned to her henchmen around her. "Make sure everything is out of here. I'm not sure what the Captain is going to do and I don't want my tesseract blown up."

While Sin was addressing her henchmen, her control over Amanda's mind was temporarily lifted and she looked up into Steve's eyes.

"Amanda?" he whispered.

She nodded, staying quiet to not attract their attention.

Steve stepped closer to her, closing the gap between them, and he kneeled down so their faces were even.

Amanda looked down to her boot and motioned to something on the zipper on the inside of her calf. The tiniest of lights caught Steve's eye. A tracker. Someone could find them. But someone would have to be looking for them and that was impossible to know.

But the moment of clarity was gone as quickly as it came and Amanda's head drooped once more. However, Steve wasn't going to let it all end like this. He took his chance, maybe his _only_ chance, and kissed her full on the lips.

Despite Steve's lack of experience with women, he could tell that Amanda had begun kissing him back.

"Hey! Hey!" Sin yelled. "This was not part of the deal, Captain! You don't get a last request."

"It wasn't a request," Steve replied.

The kiss was enough to break Amanda free from the mind control and enough of a distraction that Sin didn't realize she'd lost her.

"But I _do _have a last request…I can't kill a woman in chains. At least let her be able to fight back," Steve said, standing up and looking past the woman in the chair right in front of him.

Sin contemplated the notion for a minute. It wasn't such a bad idea. She and her henchman could watch a little cat and mouse game and see just what the Captain was capable of. It would at least be a couple minutes of entertainment.

Sin nodded. "Take the chains off," she told Crossbones.

"What are you _doing_?" Crossbones asked. "Can I just kill her? It'll be done quick and painless," he said. "I mean, painless for some," he said, grinning under his skull mask.

"No, no, no, Brock," she replied. "He loves her, Brock. This'll be _so_ much better. I think we should let him do it."

_Get up, Agent Carter. C'mon, get up. Fight him. It's what he wants; doesn't want an easy target. Fight back._

But this time the voice wasn't affecting her in the same way it had been. The kiss had effectively cleared her mind. This time, Amanda knew it was coming and she could fight it off.

Amanda _did_ stand, but instead of immediately fighting Steve, she walked straight over to the wall of weapons. The woman chose a short-bladed knife off the rack and then she headed back to face Captain Rogers. She was facing away from Sin and looking into Steve's face. And Steve was searching Amanda's face for answers.

"Do you trust me?" she whispered. It was so quiet that it was barely audible.

Steve, in turn, barely nodded. He didn't know what she was planning, but he felt he had no choice but to go along with it.

She turned the knife toward herself with one hand and put his hand on the hilt with the other. She silently counted to herself and closed her eyes.

Steve didn't realize what she was doing until he felt the blood on his hand. Amanda collapsed into him with the knife still sticking out of her.

He didn't know if he should pull the knife out or not. He wasn't sure if she was alive or not. There was a lot of blood though. He laid her to the ground as carefully as he could and faced Sin.

Steve tried to tell himself that as a doctor, Amanda would know what she was doing, but with the pool of blood around her, he was beginning to think that she was still under the powers of Sin.

"Are you happy now?" He asked.

"No, I'm not. Should we check to make sure she's really dead?" she asked Crossbones, who was standing at her left elbow.

"Why bother? She looks dead; let's just get the hell outta here, babe," he replied, tugging on her arm.

"Ya know what would make me really happy, Captain?" she asked.

Steve didn't reply; he just continued to stand near the body of the woman he had feelings for. Steve was afraid they were going to take her away and he needed to protect whatever life might still be there.

"I think blowing up the building with you still inside would make me _real_ happy. Like effing ecstatic," Sin said, grinning.

The red-headed woman pulled a lever beside the doorway that her group of henchmen were starting to exit from. Suddenly, the room that Steve was inside, along with Amanda and Peggy, began to seal up.

"What happened to our deal!" Steve yelled.

Sin's response was a demonic laugh that seemed to cut straight through the metal walls that were closing in around her captives.

Deep down, he knew that she would never honor their "deal". That was when Steve realized he should take the opportunity to check on Amanda and Peggy since neither of them was in any condition to help him figure a way out of this mess.

Steve moved to Peggy, and started to undo her bindings. Her breathing was uneven and labored. Once she was completely untied, Steve scooped the old woman up and carried her to a side of the room, closer to her niece who was bleeding out on the floor. Her eyes began to open as Steve carried her.

"Steve?" she whispered. Her accented voice was hoarse, but it was definitely Peggy.

"Yes," he replied. "How long have you been here?" he asked.

Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes and roll down her cheeks.

"I-I don't know," she replied. Peggy couldn't look at him and instead looked past him. That's when she saw her niece in a puddle of blood on the floor. Her eyes were wide with horror at the sight and she struggled to free herself of Steve's grip, but to no avail. She was too weak and Steve was definitely too strong.

Steve turned with Peggy still in her arms and propped her against the wall. Turning back to Amanda, he first put his hand to her neck to feel for a pulse, even a faint one. He needed to know she was still alive, even just a little bit. He thought he felt one; it was possible that it was just wishful thinking, especially with the amount of blood that seemed to be leaving the wound, but he needed to believe it was there. He moved his hand to her cheek, so he could try and wake her up out of her unconsciousness.

"Amanda? Can you hear me? You need to wake up," he said. "I could really use your help getting us out of here."

But she wasn't waking up.

And then Steve heard it; the telltale sound of an explosion. No, a series of explosions. He felt the building shudder; Steve knew that at least one of the interior support walls had already crumbled. It was only a matter of time before the rest of them crumbled. He tried to look at Peggy as comfortingly as possible, but he wasn't sure it was conveyed properly.

And Steve could feel the temperature in the room rising. The building _had _to be on fire. And if the building were on fire, the metal room they were in was going to work like an oven and all three of them were going to bake.

So Steve set to work on how he could get them all out of the room.

…

"What the hell?" Tony yelled. "JARVIS, where'd the signal go?" He was flying over Manhattan, in his Iron Man suit. Tony had been following the signal coming off of Amanda, but it had suddenly disappeared.

"I'm sorry, sir, the alternate GPS tracker seems to have failed," JARVIS' voice replied.

The other team members, now including Thor, were in a Stark Industries jet, speeding along behind Tony, trying to keep up with his newest and fastest Iron Man suit.

"Calm down, Stark," Hawkeye said. "We'll pick up the signal again."

Then they all saw it. A high-rise building, with flames licking at the first several floors.

"I think we should check this out," Tony said, pointing down at the flaming building.

It appeared to be an older building, run down, right on the river. It didn't look any different than any other old buildings in New York, but since it was on fire, it stuck out.

"It's just a diversion, Stark," Natasha replied.

"JARVIS, scan the building for signs of life," Tony asked.

"Sir, the distance between your scanners and the building is too great," JARVIS replied. "Once you've gotten closer, I can begin the scan."

Tony began to fly closer to the building, but it wasn't what any of them wanted him to do.

"Stark, stay away from the building!" Natasha yelled.

But Tony wasn't listening. He had a feeling that the building that was on fire _wasn't _just a diversion. And he needed to check it out.

…

Steve was sweating. Amanda still hadn't woken up and Peggy was still silently crying against the wall. Neither of them were going to be able to help him.

Steve walked around the entire room, feeling for any gap in the metal walls. But there wasn't anything, not even a gap small enough for a fingernail. And to top it all off, the walls were beginning to feel hot.

Steve walked back to the center of the room, to check on Amanda, and suddenly, Steve was falling and so was Amanda's unconscious body.

Steve landed hard after falling for an indeterminate amount of time. He'd tried to count the levels as they had fallen, but he couldn't be sure. He could feel a gash on his head bleeding, but he was more concerned with Amanda. And now Peggy was all alone upstairs.

As the flames continued to get hotter, Steve searched to find Amanda. He needed to find her and find an exit. He needed to get them out.

Through the fire and smoke, he could just make out the shape of a body, lying prone in a pile of rubble, but he was separated from it by a wall of flames and sparking electrical cords.

That was when another explosion rocked the building. But this time it sounded different. And this time, it was accompanied by a voice that he recognized.

"Looks like you could use some help, Cap," Tony said as he came zooming into the flames.

…

I know, I know, I was going to try and make these updates come a little closer together. I appreciate everyone's patience so much! However, sometimes real life happens.

Anyway, thanks so much for all the love. I can't believe it! Thanks for making me want to continue to write!


	18. Chapter 18

Hello all…thanks to everyone who has reviewed, added me to their alerts and to the 100 people who have made this story one of their favorites! I've been terrible at responding to reviews, but I just wanted to let each and everyone know that I appreciate it all so very much.

Okay…read on… :)

Into the New World

Chapter 18

Tony Stark had followed his hunch. And he loved it when his hunches were correct. Black Widow was still barking in his ear as he busted through a third floor window in his Iron Man suit.

"Barton, can you tell your woman to shut up? I think I see something," Tony said.

Tony grinned inside his helmet; he knew the kind of look he was getting from Natasha back on the jet. But it worked; there was silence on their radio frequency as JARVIS began scanning for signs of life.

"What did you find?" Hawkeye said, breaking the silence.

"A couple of burned up bodies; there's nothing else on the third floor. I need to go up to the next floor," Tony said.

"Hold off; We'll come with you," Hawkeye said.

"No, everything is really unstable in here. The big green guy will just fall through the floor and the rest of you are unprotected without a suit like mine," Tony replied. He knew he was getting more dirty looks from his teammates, but he truthfully didn't want anyone else getting hurt.

"You don't have to do this alone, Stark," Natasha said.

But Tony wasn't listening.

"Stark, NYFD is coming. ETA five minutes," Bruce announced. "Maybe sooner."

"Can someone check to find out what this building was used for? And find me an elevator shaft or something; I need to get up to the next floor," Tony said.

Back on the jet, the team was trying to process Stark's request.

A couple minutes later, they were reporting back to him.

"The building was first a factory for breaking down scrap metal and then…a mental hospital," Bruce said. "Built in the 1920s and was converted in the sixties. It was closed down in 1972 for unethical medical practices."

Tony opened the door closest to him. It had a window, but it was black from soot. Inside was a padded-walled room with chains hanging from the ceiling.

"I could believe that. How's the info on the layout coming?" he asked.

"Uh, Stark, once the building was decommissioned as a hospital, a manufacturing company bought it and used it as a factory again."

"What did they manufacture?"

"Experimental chemicals for some really shady sounding corporations," Bruce said. "It looks like it's been owned by a corporation called Roxxon since the time of the Vietnam war."

"Great," Tony said sarcastically. He was familiar with some of the dealings that Roxxon had been involved in.

"Stark, if you move about ten feet north and take a left, that should be the elevator shaft," Natasha said. "Do you see it?"

"I _do_ see it, _mom_," Tony replied. "Thank you."

With the building already being on fire, Tony wouldn't have thought twice about using his energy repulsors to blast open the elevator doors. But with Roxxon's track record of shady business dealings, any number of horrible chemicals could still be waiting to do more damage to the surrounding blocks of Manhattan. And since the building was right on the river, it could contaminate the river, then the bay, and potentially the ocean if it were enough chemicals.

He used the strength from the Iron Man suit and pried the elevator doors open. It was pitch black. But Tony knew he had to use it to get upstairs.

Tony was really pleased that the newest version of his suit was equipped with lights that were bright enough to illuminate up to 200 feet. He engaged them and it lit up almost the entire elevator shaft. Tony took a deep breath and hope that the fire had decommissioned the elevator.

He could see the next set of doors when he looked up, so he fired up the thrusters and flew up to them. Tony could feel the heat of the flames on the other side of the door as the pried them open. He knew this wouldn't be good.

And Tony was right.

Flames were spreading around the room but a majority of them were in specific places.

"Sir," JARVIS' voice was in Tony's ear. "The building was wired with explosives. Almost all of them have been detonated."

"Good to know. Thanks, JARV," he replied.

Tony knew it was a terrible idea to go blindly walking into this fiery mess, and alone at that, but he owed Amanda and he wanted to find her. And he needed to find Cap, too. He figured it would be good for his conscience.

He looked up and there was a giant hole in the ceiling. Turning his focus back to the floor he was on, he moved to his right where there was less fire. Then Tony saw something. He thought it was Steve Rogers.

He moved quickly, yet carefully through the flames and up to Captain Rogers. He extended a hand out to him. "Looks like you could use some help, Cap."

Steve was looking at the man in the robotic metal suit in disbelief. He wasn't sure if this was real or not. The Captain reached out and took Iron Man's metal hand. It felt real enough.

Tony helped Cap stand up and he could see that he'd been through the ringer. Steve was bruised and banged up and he was bleeding from a gash on his forehead.

"Hey guys, I've got Cap," Tony told the other teammates on the jet outside.

Steve was a little dazed, but he knew that he still needed to get Amanda and Peggy out and then there was the little matter of the woman who still had the cube.

"You okay?" Tony asked the man. Despite being a super soldier, Steve was still coughing and sputtering because of the smoke.

Steve nodded. "I'm okay," he said.

"I have to get Amanda out of here," Steve said.

"Amanda's here, too?" Tony asked, scanning the room. He was having a bit of trouble seeing through the smoke and fire, but he continued to look around for her.

Limping, Steve pointed out and tried to lead Tony to another section of the flaming building. Steve knew exactly where she was laying and he intended to get her out, but Tony stopped him.

"You're injured, where is she?" he asked. "I can get her."

"I'm fine, I can and will get her out. She's unconscious; she's suffered a stab wound. And both of us fell through the floor. Peggy's still upstairs," Steve explained.

The Captain could feel his broken ribs. The combination of smoke and bodily injuries made it hurt just to breathe, but he'd gotten Amanda into this and he loved her and he was going to get her out.

He started to move again, past Tony, but Tony stopped him once more.

"You can't go over there. My sensors are reading that it's over one hundred degrees in that wall of fire. You'll be burned alive. I can go and I _will_ go," Tony explained. "That's one of the benefits of the suit."

Steve hadn't liked Tony Stark at all before that very second. He thought he was selfish and immature. He thought the man wasted money and the only reason he was part of their group was because he had money and that damned suit. But that damned suit was what was going to be able to help save Amanda. Suddenly, the importance of who had what didn't matter.

"You have to get her out," Steve said, wincing in pain as he spoke.

"I will. Stay back. I'll get her. Then I'll get Peggy and we'll all get out together," Tony said.

Steve nodded. And he waited until Tony had turned his back to go after Amanda to start his own plan.

Master tactician, Steve found an easy way to climb back up to the next floor, despite the flames' heat and destruction. While Tony went to get Amanda's limp body, Steve was going to get Peggy; then they could all leave together and he wouldn't feel like such a failure.

"Stark, NYFD has arrived on scene, we need to get the jet outta here!" Bruce yelled into Tony's earpiece.

"I've got Amanda," Tony said. "She's unconscious and is bleeding really badly. Make sure you get a medical team ready." He turned around now that he had scooped Amanda into his arms so he could address the Captain. But he was gone. "Steve!" Tony called but received no response.

Tony realized that he must have gone after Peggy. "That guy is a moron," he said to Amanda's lifeless body.

An electrical wire sparking broke Tony from his thoughts and he realized he needed to get her out of there.

"I lost Rogers. I'm coming out the fourth floor window, south side, right corner. Be ready."

He shielded Amanda's body the best he could and broke through the window that he'd reported to the team. Right on cue, the jet was waiting and a side door opened up. He handed Amanda over to Hawkeye who looked down at his fallen friend.

"Is she breathing?" Tony asked. It had been impossible to tell inside the building. Rogers had said that she was just unconscious, but with the amount of blood loss, things could have changed rapidly.

Hawkeye examined her for a moment. "I think so, but just barely. We need to get her to a doc fast."

"We need Rogers before we can leave."

"News vans are starting to arrive, Stark," Natasha said, eyeing the search lights aimed at them. "Fury is going to be pissed if we end up on the morning news."

"I'm not really concerned about whether or not I'm on the news. I'd like to get _Captain America_ out of this mess," Tony replied before flying back into the burning building.

Seconds later, another window was shattered, but this time it wasn't Iron Man that came flying out. A long white thread shot at the jet and stuck and a man in a blue and red suit swung out with Peggy Carter in his other arm. This woman was also lifeless as Spiderman handed her off to Hawkeye at the door.

"Thanks, man," Hawkeye said.

"Hey, that's why they call me the 'friendly neighborhood Spiderman'," he replied before swinging back into the building.

"Stark, get Rogers and bring him back. We're heading out so we can get medical care for Amanda and her aunt ASAP," Natasha said. She'd made an executive decision and pushed a button so the jet door would close.

"Before you go, toss me Cap's shield!" Tony yelled.

"Why?" Hawkeye asked.

"Because apparently some of Roxxon's employees are an army and they didn't get the memo that the building is on fire," Tony replied.

"Hang on," Hawkeye said. "I can toss it," he said after a second, "But it'll never be as good as Cap's aim."

"No worries," Tony said.

Hawkeye was in the door way of the jet as another web shot out of a window and connected with the shield in his hands. Hawkeye released his grip and soon the disc was hurdling through the air.

"Thanks, Barton!" Tony shouted. "Get them out of here and get them checked out. We'll be back as soon as we can."

Hawkeye nodded and closed the jet door. A second later, the jet was disappearing away from the burning building.

Inside the building, a battle was beginning.

"Pick the smartest looking one to keep alive," Tony shouted to both Cap and Spiderman. Each of the three men was doing their best to just keep their own lives as the army surrounded them.

Steve had his shield and was fighting off six men in uniforms all at once. He hit one square in the head with his shield and instead of bleeding, the man robotically spoke _"deactivated"._

"Stark, they're drones. Not human!" Cap shouted. "Aim for their heads!"

The three men continued to fight against the drone army. The technology was good, but not as good as Iron Man, Captain America and Spiderman.

Just as the last of the robots fell to the floor, their computer chips fried, another explosion shook the building.

"We need to get out of here," Spiderman shouted. "The whole place is going to collapse."

"We haven't checked the rest of the upper floors," Steve argued.

"Cap, I really don't think there's anything else upstairs," Tony replied after sending his face shield into the helmet.

"They still have the cube," Steve said. "If there's offices upstairs, there might be some clue as to where they were heading with it or what they were going to use it for."

"They who?" Spiderman asked.

"Synthea Schmitt. She's the great-granddaughter of Johann Schmitt…the Red Skull. He ran HYDRA until…"

"Oh," was Tony's only reply.

"If they thought that the building was going to blow, they might have been a little hasty when they were packing up," Steve said. "I have to check before we go."

"The building is unstable. The flames are up to the fourth floor now," Spiderman said, looking out a window. "I hope they didn't send any firefighters in. This place is a lost cause."

"You guys can go," Steve said. "I'm just going to check upstairs; it's only two more floors, if I remember correctly."

Tony looked to the man who was still holding his shield. Even though he didn't have his Captain America suit on, he still looked like someone you didn't want to disagree with. Despite his objections, Tony let Cap past him and looked at Spiderman.

"You in?" Tony asked.

"I wouldn't want you guys to have all the fun without me," Spiderman replied.

Steve nodded at the both of them and started to climb the stairs. Luckily, the fire hadn't quite destroyed them entirely yet, and Steve was able to climb up while Iron Man and Spiderman used their own unique skills to get to the next level.

They made quick work of searching, by spreading out. They were looking for any kind of information that could lead them in Schmitt's direction. The sixth floor had no information; everything had been wiped clean.

The top floor was all offices and they all silently hoped they would find what they were looking for. The building was getting less and less stable each passing second and finally, in a desk drawer, Steve found a piece of paper. He tucked it inside his pocket and yelled for all of them to get out.

"Did you find anything?" Tony asked once he had set Cap on the ground.

Spiderman had taken his leave and now it was just Tony and Steve watching the building burn from behind the ropes that the fire department had set up.

"No," Steve said, thinking of the paper he had in his pocket. It was probably nothing.

Tony was going to say something else when a firefighter shouting caught both of their attentions.

"Hey! Where's Mills?" he shouted.

"I don't know!" another firefighter replied. "He must still be inside!"

Both Tony and Steve looked at each other. And before Tony could say anything, Steve had rushed back into the building.

"Yup, he's definitely a moron," Tony said.

"The building's gonna come down!" the firefighter shouted. "Has anyone found Mills?"

"I'm right here!" a voice shouted.

Tony turned around and looked at a firefighter approaching the others.

"I had gone around back; I saw a dock," the man who must be Firefighter Mills said.

"Everyone's accounted for, then, sir," another firefighter reported to the chief.

"All right," the chief said. "Bring it down."

Tony looked around. Steve still hadn't come out.

"Wait!" Tony yelled, rushing towards the chief.

But it was too late. The building started to collapse from the middle.

Tony threw back his mask once more and stared into the burning rubble of the building. Captain America was dead…again. Tony needed to get back to headquarters to report what had happened, and find out about Amanda.

…

Back at the SHIELD headquarters, down in the third basement level, doctors were working on Amanda Carter's stab wound. She had lost a lot of blood and her blood pressure and pulse were terribly low.

"Get an IV going in each arm; she needs blood," the doctor said. "What's her pulse ox?"

"Pulse ox is 70," a nurse reported.

"Get the paddles ready," the doctor ordered.

Natasha and Hawkeye were both watching as the doctors and nurses worked on their friend. She was terribly pale and wouldn't wake up on the ride back to the headquarters. There was nothing that they could do, so all they did was hang back on the wall.

"Clear!" the doctor shouted.

He rubbed the paddles together, they beeped and he put them down on Amanda's chest. Her heart didn't respond, so the repeated the same process three more times.

Finally, a positive sound came from the heart monitor. All eyes turned to Amanda's face.

Slowly, Amanda's eyes fluttered open. Half a second later, her eyes were wide open and she was fighting the doctor and the tubes.

"Amanda, calm down," the doctor said. "We haven't stitched you up yet," he said calmly.

"Where are Steve and Aunt Peggy?" she asked hoarsely.

Her head was swimming, partly from the pain and the events that had recently occurred and partly from the drugs that they had already given her for the pain.

She tried to move her head once more, but she had a brace on and was immobilized.

"My neck is fine," she said tiredly. "Take this off, please," she begged.

"Manda, how did you get stabbed?" Hawkeye asked, moving with Natasha closer to her.

The doctor finished checking her neck and removed the brace.

"I need to speak with Agents Romanoff and Barton alone," Amanda said. "I'm fine."

The nurses looked at the doctor skeptically. They really shouldn't leave a patient who was in such critical condition just moments ago, but the serious look in her eyes made them leave the room.

"Where is Steve? And Aunt Peggy?" Amanda asked again.

Hawkeye and Natasha looked at each other.

"Your aunt is in a coma," Hawkeye finally said.

Tears began to well up in Amanda's eyes.

"And Rogers was in the building when it collapsed," Tony said from the door way.

…

What just happened?

I know this was a really long chapter. I just didn't want to split it up into two chapters. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Leave me a review! Okay, now I'm off to write the next chapter!


	19. Chapter 19: Part One

Into the New World

Chapter 19: Part One

Captain Steve Rogers opened his eyes and blinked into the light. He'd been having the strangest dream. He dreamed that he'd gone back in to the building to save a firefighter and when it collapsed, Steve was stuck inside. But someone else was inside. Someone who dragged him to safety.

He didn't know how long it had been; but he'd been in and out of consciousness here and there.

"Finally," a man's voice said.

Steve sat up and looked in the direction that the voice was coming from.

"Bucky?" Steve asked.

"In the flesh," Bucky replied. "So to speak," he said, flexing a seemingly metal arm. "You don't seem so surprised."

"I've been through a lot, Buck," Steve said, standing up and moving towards his best friend.

"You're preaching to the choir, Captain America," Bucky smiled.

He extended his right arm to shake Cap's hand. But Steve's hand went straight to Bucky's throat and the man immediately started to cough and sputter.

"As I was saying, I've been through a lot, pardon me if I don't believe that you're my dead best friend from 70 years ago," Steve said.

…

Tony Stark looked down to this very expensive watch. It was exactly 11:45 and this show should be getting on the road.

"I've known her a very long time. What makes you thinks he's going to be here?" Tony asked.

Fury turned around in his own chair to face the billionaire in his office.

"She'll be here," Fury said.

"She hasn't been taking anyone's calls as far as I know, including mine, Fury. I don't know if she's still in New York; I haven't seen her."

"It's only been four days. She removed her own stitches and IVs and took off out of the SHIELD recovery unit," Fury said. "She'll be her," he repeated.

As if on cue, the door to Fury's office slid open with an animated _whoosh_.

Tony did a double take as Amanda strolled into the office in full SHIELD uniform. It fit to all of her curves perfectly. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail and her eyes were bright. But her usual smile was absent.

"Hello, Director Fury, Tony," she said, greeting each of the men before her.

"Please, sit," Fury said.

She complied and sat down in the chair next to Tony.

Tony leaned in as Fury stood and started to call something up on his computer. "You look pretty damn good for someone who was near death just days ago," Tony whispered.

But she still didn't smile and Tony's own smile fell.

"I need to get going to the building site, so if we could just get on with whatever this is…"

"Agent Carter," Fury calmly said. "You need to see this footage before we discuss the events that occurred four nights ago."

All three of them turned to the screen on the wall.

It was truly terrible footage between the shaky hand holding it and the smoke and flames, but it was definitely the outline of Captain America being pulled out of the building. But that was when the footage cut out.

"Who was that? Pulling Steve out?" Amanda asked. "Nat told me that Parker was there…"

"No, it's not Parker. This guy's bigger that him."

"Murdock? Pym maybe?"

"No, I don't think so," Tony said, studying the other figure. "Pym doesn't do shit for anyone else."

"We've been doing some research. I believe that man pulling Cap to safety was James Buchanan Barnes…"

"Bucky? Steve's friend from the forties?" Amanda asked. "The one who died?"

"His body was stolen from his grave site about three weeks ago."

"He's a zombie? Not likely, Nick," Amanda said.

"Who stole the body?" Tony asked. Tony was familiar with the story of the death of Bucky Barnes. His father told him, once, that Captain Rogers was almost inconsolable at the loss of his best friend. It was one of the only stories from the war that his father had told him.

"You kept this from Steve, didn't you?" Amanda asked. "He deserved to know."

Fury was silent for a beat.

"We weren't certain until this morning…it's HYDRA. We think they had planned to use Barnes' reanimated body against Rogers if you weren't enough. But based on the events, it appears that Barnes defected from his captors…"

"If that were true, Steve should be here, with us."

"_He was._"

Amanda's jaw dropped. "What?" she yelled. "What are you talking about?"

Tony put a hand on her shoulder.

"Honey, Rogers broke in while you were in surgery. He took his suit and shield and disappeared," Tony explained.

Amanda was trying to understand.

"So what you're telling me is that Captain America is running around with his _dead_ best friend-slash-sidekick Bucky Barnes?" Amanda said. "Really?"

"Well…" Fury began.

"Despite it being the truth," Tony began. "It does sound ridiculous when you say it like that."

"Can you go over the details of your abduction again?" Fury said.

Amanda let out an exasperated sigh.

"You're going to make her do this again?" Tony asked.

"Yes, I am. What can you remember? Who was there?"

Tony looked at her in the most sympathetic way possible.

Amanda closed her eyes. She remembered Steve's face as he came closer. She remembered the determination on his face as he demanded her release. She could still feel the kiss. But was Bucky in the room?

"Bucky wasn't there," Amanda said, opening her eyes.

"Who _was _there?"

"The woman claiming to be the great-granddaughter of Johann Schmitt, um, Synthea Schmitt. She had some minions and one big guy. He really wanted to kill me. He had a…"

Amanda closed her eyes to focus.

"He had a mask on with a skull on it. She called him…Crossbones," Amanda said.

Both men looked at her.

"Crossbones?" Tony asked.

"Yes, Crossbones. But she also called him Brock."

Fury started to type in the information while Amanda studied the figure pulling Cap from the collapsing building.

"But the Crossbones guy wasn't built like this guy. He carried a lot of his weight in his chest and shoulders. This guy is too tall to be him," Amanda said.

Fury had called up several databases, including the FBI Most Wanted list and searched criminals named 'Brock'. Less than two minutes later a mug shot and a video of the man Amanda had described had been found.

"That him?" Fury asked.

Amanda shook her head. "He had a mask on all the time, and I was hypnotized part of the time, but yeah, his height and build are right."

"You were hypnotized?" Tony asked.

"Apparently Schmitt is good at mind-control. There was a voice in my head. A calm, soothing voice. It was telling me I shouldn't fight; that I should just let Steve kill me so it wouldn't be difficult for him. Save him the trouble."

"Rogers was going to kill you?" Fury asked, anger evident in his voice.

"Schmitt told Steve to kill me because…" Amanda trailed off.

"Because why?"

"Because she knew that he loved me. And that…that I love him. She used it against us. She said if he killed me, Steve could save himself and my aunt."

She'd been through the story before, but she'd glossed over most of the these intimate details.

"So Rogers was the one who stabbed you?" Tony said, getting red in the face. "I'm going to find him and I'm going to kill him."

"Oh, Tony," Amanda said.

Tony held up his hands. "Sorry, sorry."

"Steve convinced Synthea that it would only be fair if I was untied. She decided it would be more fun to watch me get chased and fight back, but I…I know where I can stab myself and survive. I asked him to trust me. That's the last thing I said to him. I think the adrenaline rush caused me to pass out. I was _so_ helpful after that," Amanda said, getting sarcastic. "I don't know what happened after that."

"The building started to blow. All the floors were wired with explosives. I got there and went in to get Rogers and you out. I was successful at getting you out, but I turned to get him out but he was gone. Rogers had gone after your aunt," Tony explained. "Parker showed up and helped get your aunt out and we continued to go up the next couple of floors. We found some drone fighters, we were going to keep one to interrogate, but they weren't able to tell us anything.

"Parker left and Rogers and I got out, but then we heard that they were still looking for a firefighter inside the building when it was about to come down. Cap ran back inside and that's when the building collapsed. I came back here to check on you and that's why I thought he'd died," Tony said.

"And you just let me believe that he was dead for the last four days?"

"We didn't want to hinder your recovery," Fury said. "I asked Stark not to say anything to you."

"Well, that's…bullshit. We need to go find Steve!" Amanda said, storming out of the room.

To Be Continued…


	20. Chapter 19: Part Two

Hello everyone! My apologies for the infrequent updating. I have to work sometimes and it gets in the way of my updating...haha… Anyway, I just wanted to thank the readers, reviewers, those that have added me to their alerts and favorites. It's incredible to me that you all enjoy this story. I'm terrible at replying to individual reviews, but I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am that you not only take the time to read my updates, but also leave a review.

Have a great day everyone!

Into the New World

Chapter 19: Part Two

Steve held the other man by the throat up against the wall. The man coughed and sputtered as he struggled to stay conscious. But the man lost his fight and Steve dropped the now-unconscious man on down on the ground.

He looked down at the man on the ground. Steve didn't want to believe it. He couldn't believe it. No one could have survived the fall that Bucky took of off the train. Steve _knew_ Bucky was dead. It was all another trick. Besides, this man was bigger and stronger than Bucky had ever been.

Steve looked around. He needed to figure out where he was. And then he needed to figure out where Schmitt was headed. HYDRA had to be stopped.

Something shiny caught his eye in the corner of his room. Moving towards it, Steve found his shield and his suit. How did this get here?

He looked back to the man on the floor. He needed to be restrained.

Cap made quick work of making sure the man couldn't move and then stepped outside onto the fire escape. He was still in New York.

Steve pulled the papers from his pocket. He hoped that this would explain something. He hoped that it would lead him to Schmitt and the other HYDRA bases. It was probably wishful thinking.

"_Operation Winter Soldier?_" Steve read out loud.

A groan came from the other side of the room. The man was beginning to wake up.

"Did you have to knock me out?" Bucky asked. He struggled to sit up. "And you had to tie me up? Seriously, Steve," Bucky said. "It's me."

"James Buchanan Barnes died in the forties. I know; I was there. I mourned for you. _You_ are not Buck," Steve said, walking back inside the room.

"I promise you that I am the same Bucky who plummeted to my death in Northern Germany. I'm the same Bucky who joined the 107th without you. The same guy who saved your ass a couple times in the past and then again not-so long ago," Bucky said. "I _was _dead. They were going to use…"

"They?" Steve asked.

"HYDRA."

Steve turned away and read further on the piece of paper.

"_Subject is difficult to control. He must be kept under mind-control or in cryogenic stasis at all times. Subject fights against all mental restraints and has repeatedly asked about the deceased Captain Steven Rogers of the US Army. Received experimental serum, however it did not work as the original serum created by Doctor Abraham Erskine."_

"They were trying to make me into a new you, only for them," Bucky said once Steve looked up from the papers in his friend's hands. "Hey, Dum-Dum!" he called.

A man in a bowler hat and a rather large, distinctive moustache shuffled into the room.

"Dugan?"

The man in the hat nodded. "It's me, Cap," the man replied.

Dugan tried to shake hands with Steve, but Steve stood frozen. He continued past the Captain instead and began to untie Bucky.

"What are you doing?" Steve yelled. "Leave him…"

"He's on our side," Dugan replied. "At least he is now."

Bucky, now freed, extended his hand once again to Steve, but Steve was still wary of the man in front of him.

"Come on, man. You _have to_ believe me," Bucky said.

Steve eyed the men and then turned to his suit and shield in the back corner of the room.

"How did you get that?" Steve asked.

"I brought them from SHIELD," Dugan said. "On order from Director Fury."

"Fury?" Steve repeated.

"I work for SHIELD, too, Cap," Dugan replied. "I've been working on rescuing Barnes here from HYDRA. And then the idiot ran into a burning building…"

"Because _this_ idiot ran into a burning building first," Bucky interjected, pointing at Steve and grinning.

"This is all well and good, but I fell for this with Peggy and I'm not too proud of it. If this were all true, why wouldn't Fury…or Amanda…"

"Agent Carter doesn't know," Dugan said. "Actually, 99.9% of the agents that work for SHIELD don't know I even exist."

"How…"

Dugan provided a SHIELD emblem and an identification card for Steve to look at. It was all so much to take in. This was worse than trying to learn 70 years of history in only a couple of days.

"I need to let Fury know that you're awake. And then we need to get to tracking the HYDRA group," Dugan said.

Without waiting for a response from either men, Dugan walked back through the door and left them alone.

Bucky put a hand on Steve's shoulder.

"I'm sorry it had to happen this way, buddy," Bucky said. "But it'll be easier to track them if we're dead."

"I need to speak with Fury," Steve as though he hadn't heard Bucky at all. He followed Dugan through the door and found Dugan already on a conference call with Fury.

"Good to see you're okay, Cap," Fury said.

"What the hell is going on?" Steve demanded to know.

"Cap, you, Dugan and Barnes are going on a top secret mission. You are the only folks who can find the HYDRA base here in the US," Fury explained.

"I sure as hell hope you hadn't planned this from the beginning," Steve said. "Because Peggy and Amanda put their lives on…"

"I'm sorry, Cap," Fury said.

"How is Amanda? And Peggy?" Steve asked. "I want to speak with Amanda."

"Agent 13 is unavailable."

"Is she okay?"

"Her surgery went fine, but Agent 13 has been taken off active duty," Fury explained. "Ms. Carter, her aunt, is in a coma and will more than likely be in a permanent vegetative state."

Steve Rogers was angrier than he'd been in a very long time. He punched through the drywall immediately to his right.

"Cap, calm down," Dugan said. "This is my apartment."

"No, no. You all need to listen to me. You went to the trouble of finding me, unfreezing me, just to continuously lie to me? You wanted me to help you with your initiative, to help protect the world, but I can't help anyone when I can't trust any of you. And now you're keeping me from the one person I know I can trust."

"Captain Rogers, you know as well as we do, that you are the _only_ one who can do this. The _only_ one. And I'm keeping her off this case because he aunt is dying."

"I have to be with her. With Peggy, too," Steve said. "Does she know I'm alive?"

"Cap…"

"Does she know I'm alive?" Steve yelled through gritted teeth.

Fury shook his head. "Yes, but she thinks you've been taken hostage. Now can we…"

"No, before I'll agree to do anything, I need to speak with her."

"I'm afraid we can't do that. I'm sorry for all the deception, Captain Rogers, but if HYDRA believes you're deceased, the less likely they'll expect you to show up and kick their asses," Fury explained. "Amanda will most likely be distracted and won't be any use for you in the state she's in."

"Did you know about Peggy?" Steve asked. "That it wasn't her?"

"No," Fury replied. "We didn't know that HYDRA was capable of shape-shifting. We didn't know they could do this."

"But you knew HYDRA was still around. You knew, but you pretended that you didn't believe me. Why should I help you?"

"Because the world needs you. You have to know that sometimes we have to keep secrets. As a military man, you know the value of a well-kept secret."

"What about Amanda?"

"Amanda only knows you were pulled from the building by an unknown individual. She knows that the grave here in DC for Barnes was dug up. While she's off active duty to assist with family matters, it'll only be a matter of time before she goes off on her own agenda. She already wants to start searching for you, Cap."

Steve's heart stopped for a beat.

"Don't just do this for the world. Or for me. Or for SHIELD. Do it for her."

"Don't you dare, Fury!" Steve roared. "Leave her out of this!"

"Steve, she and her family are going to be well taken care of. Focus on finding HYDRA. Barnes will be useful as he was employed by them for a period of time. You can trust him. He's been fully evaluated by SHIELD physicians. Even if you don't want to trust me, you can trust the two fellas you've got there with you. I know you can do this, Captain."

"What if I refuse?" Steve asked.

Fury didn't reply. He merely signed off of the video conference call and left Steve with Dugan. They all knew Steve wouldn't refuse. It wasn't in Steve's nature to refuse the needs of his country.

"Barnes! Get in here," Dugan yelled.

Bucky walked into the room and looked at the two of them.

"Looks like we're getting the old team back together," Steve said. "I still don't know what to believe, but Fury's right. I've got to do this for the world," he finished.

Steve hated that Fury used his feelings for Amanda against him. He felt an incredible need to be with her and yet, he knew there was no chance that he would be able to get in touch with her in the immediate future. He wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to hold her and apologize for endangering her and her aunt. To apologize for her aunt being in the condition she's in.

But he was a soldier first. As a soldier, he was going to have to put everything aside and do this job. HYDRA had to be stopped and no more lives could be lost for the cause.

"Okay, where do we start?" Steve asked, dropping some of his guard.

Dugan grinned and led both men to a room in the back of his apartment. It looked similar to that of the labs at SHIELD headquarters. It was going to be another ridiculously long night.

…

Okay, there was part two. Hopefully everyone is still enjoying the story. I'm still having fun writing it! Please leave me a review and let me know. Thanks everyone!


	21. Chapter 20

I am so very sorry for not updating. Real life gets in the way sometimes, but it's not an excuse.

Thank you so much for all the reviews everything else.

Hopefully, this is worth the wait. We're getting closer to the end, folks!

Into the New World

Chapter 20

Captain Steve Rogers pushed back from the table that had been serving as a research desk, dining room table, and pillow. His eyes were gritty and he was hours and hours past a five o'clock shadow.

Cap rubbed his eyes and scratched the unfamiliar beard on his face. He looked down at the digital calendar that Dugan had given him; it was Friday. Could it really have been a week already?

He closed his eyes, stretched his arms above his head and attempted to enjoy the silence. Unfortunately, it was broken by Dum-Dum and Bucky arguing loudly in the next room. Taking only a couple of strides, he crossed the room and pushed open the door.

Cap sighed loudly. "What the heck is going on out here?" he yelled.

Aside from the sheer volume of the argument, both of these men should have been working as well.

Both sets of eyes turned to him as they each became silent.

"Seriously, what are you doing? Because I know damn well you weren't working, like you were supposed to be doing."

"The television set was on too loud," Dugan said rather sheepishly.

"It was on really low, like five. Six, tops," Bucky replied.

"Then why did it say thirty-three?"

"Your _old man eyes_ must not be seeing right," Bucky replied. "I hear that can happen."

Dugan shot Bucky a nasty look.

"Listen, all I wanted was for you to put the headphones on so you could watch that stupid program and then you went all crazy on me," Dugan explained.

"We have work to do here, fellas. So, turn the television set off, no more games, no more music, and certainly no more arguing! Just actual honest to goodness research so we can locate the HYDRA base and I can get back to being alive," Steve said angrily.

Steve hadn't slept much in the last few days, but when he had, Steve's dreams always involved Amanda. Some where she was mourning him and her aunt. Some where she was just plain angry that he let Fury lie to her. They were just always about her.

"Sorry, Cap," Dugan replied.

"Yeah, sorry, Steve," Bucky said.

"Don't apologize; just cut it out," Steve said. "So, do you have an extra razor around here?"

Dugan and Bucky both grinned.

"Don't like the beard?" Dugan asked.

"Can't say that I do, Dum-Dum," he smiled back.

"Eh, the US won't be able to sell those trading cards if you keep that shit on your face anyway," Buck laughed.

"You'll find everything you need in the medicine cabinet."

After Steve got cleaned up, he went back to his desk. He began to look through the maps he had; there had to be a clue somewhere.

What did Steve know about HYDRA? It had begun as a branch of the Nazi regime. But Johann Schmitt, aka the Red Skull, took his obsession with mythical things too far and eventually broke HYDRA away into its own entity. HYDRA used its advanced technology for world domination. They had the Tesseract then, and now they had it again.

Steve sighed. Everyone knew these things. It was in the history books, and so was Steve. And apparently, it was featured in a Captain America film that the thought of watching made Steve's skin crawl.

He began looking at known and destroyed HYDRA bases. All major ones had been near bodies of water. So, Steve knew he had to research bodies of water in the US. When HYDRA found something that worked, they continued with it.

Any of the ocean coasts would be too obvious, so Steve started looking at major internal bodies of water.

Steve kept scanning the map, looking at it state by state. Where would he build a secret hideout? That wasn't even a valid question; he hadn't been around in 70 years and his US travel had been extremely limited before that. In fact, when he had been out of New York, it was only to visit other military bases.

He needed someone else's opinion.

"Hey, Buck?" Steve called.

Steve could hear movement and a minute later, his friend appeared in the doorway.

"What's up?" Bucky asked.

"What do you remember from when you were working for HYDRA?" Steve asked.

Buck shook his head. "I don't remember much, Steve," he said, running a hand through his hair.

"Think hard, Buck. Do you remember any of the smaller HYDRA bases? If they were sending you out around the US, you must have had check points or safe houses…"

Bucky was silent and concentrated for a minute. He really disliked thinking about his role as Winter Soldier. He caused a lot of damage and even though he had no control of his actions, Bucky knew he was responsible.

"I spent some time in Chicago, but there wasn't a base there. It was somewhere north of there."

"Was it near water?" Steve asked.

"Actually, yeah," Bucky replied. "I remember being able to look out and watch the sunset on the water."

Steve smiled for the first time in days.

"I think we have a lead," Steve replied.

Dugan stepped into the room.

"Did I hear that you have a lead?" Dugan asked.

"We might have caught a break, Dum-Dum," Steve said. "Looks like we're heading to Michigan."

Elsewhere…

"You are a different person to find, my dear," Tony Stark said, strolling out onto the balcony on Stark Tower. He blinked in the bright sunlight and put his sunglasses on.

Amanda Carter turned to face him.

"Bull shit," Amanda smiled slowly. "You know full well that I've been overseeing things for Pepper," Amanda replied.

"You know I don't understand that. Pepper went to the west coast for a couple weeks, she didn't invite me along _and_ she didn't leave me in charge of _my own_ company," Tony smiled.

"Also, bull."

Tony looked mock-offended. "What?"

"I know this is busy work while I am off from SHIELD. I also know that _you_ are overseeing the company, not me."

"Nope," Tony shook his head. "So whatcha got there?" he asked, referring to her food.

Amanda narrowed her eyes. "It's a sandwich."

"Mandy, honey, I haven't eaten all day," Tony said.

"Are you kidding? The billionaire is bumming off my lunch?" Amanda asked rhetorically. But she picked up one half of the sandwich and slid the plate with the second half in Tony's direction. "Real classy, Tony."

"I've been left to fend for myself, honey," Tony laughed.

"You aren't going to get any pity from me, Stark," Amanda replied.

"Are you enjoying the change of scenery?"

"No, it's boring as hell," Amanda said after swallowing a bite of sandwich. "But I know Fury wanted me here so he can keep an eye on me without having me nag him every day."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tony said around a bite of sandwich. "How is your scar?"

"Still there."

"I'm working on a gift for you." 

"That's unnecessary," she replied.

"It's a new suit," Tony said.

"To keep me from getting stabbed again? I don't need an Iron Man suit…"

"Don't worry, honey, it's not an Iron Man suit," Tony laughed. "It's a blend of Adamantium-mesh, spandex and it contains properties to let you move freely, but it conforms to your body while protecting you from electrocutions and burns."

"Thank you, Tony."

"And I made sure it's in your classic white," Tony said. "Always have to be different."

"Of course I do," Amanda smiled slightly. "And…"

"No, no. Don't bother to ask. I don't know anything about Rogers. Fury is keeping me in the dark, but I plan on getting into his servers soon," Tony said.

"Come here," Amanda said, leading him back into the office.

Tony followed Amanda back into the office and she locked the door while he removed his glasses.

"What's going on?"

"I've already been into Fury's secure servers. Because something didn't feel right," Amanda said.

Amanda typed in some information and suddenly the room was filled with reports on something called the _Winter Soldier_.

"The Winter Soldier?" Tony asked.

"That is James Buchanan Barnes…Bucky…Steve's friend from the war," Amanda said. "HYDRA turned him into a soldier for them. Gave him their new attempt at the super-soldier serum to try and make him into the Nazi version of Captain America. But the serum, despite the brainwashing they attempted, only made the good stuff stick. He could only go on short missions because the "bad" stuff would wear off relatively quickly. I guess Fury set out to get him back and apparently he's on our side."

"I thought Fury was feeding us some bullshit about that Bucky Barnes guy," Tony said.

"You seemed pretty sure when we discussed this before," Amanda said.

"I was trying to humor him; and to make you feel better," Tony said.

"So Fury hasn't been saying anything?"

"No, the only thing I've heard about him has been on the news and in the _Daily Bugle_. It's all just conspiracy theories," Tony said. "Fury did say something the other day and it didn't mean anything until now."

"And what was that?" she asked.

"He said that there was always a method to his madness and that we needed to trust him."

"I would feel better about this if I actually _did _trust Fury," Amanda said. "I've worked for him for a long time, but something about this doesn't feel right."

To Be Continued…

…


	22. Chapter 21

A/N: Here's the newest update! And it wasn't 5 weeks! Anyway, hopefully you all enjoy it. Leave me some love in the form of a review.

Into the New World

Chapter 21

Agent Amanda Carter and Agent Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, stood waiting for an elevator in a large office building downtown. She had wanted to go into this in full SHIELD gear, but Hawkeye suggested that they be more subtle. Not feeling like arguing, Amanda complied.

The elevator doors opened and the two agents stepped inside. Hawkeye pressed the correct floor button and the doors slid closed.

"I'm not supposed to let you shoot anyone," Hawkeye said. "Orders from Fury."

"Ha-ha," Amanda laughed sarcastically.

He looked at her incredulously and pushed his sunglasses up on his face.

Hawkeye volunteered, actually, he insisted that he go with Amanda. They had become good friends in SHIELD, bonding over their dedication to the job and Black Widow's volatile personality. Long story short, Barton knew her pretty well and he knew if he didn't go with her, Amanda was liable to get kicked out of SHIELD for good.

"Seriously," Clint said, smirking.

Amanda rolled her eyes.

The doors opened into newsroom madness and Amanda turned back to Clint.

"Did he say anything about punching anyone?" she asked, seeing her mark in the back of the office.

"Not specifically," he replied.

"Good."

The two agents made it to the back of the floor seemingly unnoticed. Amanda had her hand on the doorknob before someone said something.

"You can't go in there," a dark-haired woman said.

Amanda turned and looked at her.

"Ms. Brant, I always have a standing appointment with your boss, you know that."

She turned the door handle and she and Clint walked into the room.

"Hey! What's the meaning of…oh, shit. Not you, again."

"It's nice to see you, too, J. Jonah," Amanda said.

"What do I owe this intrusion?" Jameson said loudly.

Amanda stepped forward and sat on the corner of Jameson's desk while Hawkeye hung back and leaned on the door.

"We need you to quit printing articles, and I _do_ use that term loosely, about Captain America, Fury, and SHIELD," Amanda said.

"It's something the public is interested in," Jameson replied. "And _the Bugle_ always gives _the people_ what they want."

"Bull. Shit," Amanda said slowly, enunciating each word. "You're a smart man, Jameson. Do this."

"What happened to the freedom of the press?" Jameson asked. "You heard of the Constitution?"

"You know full well that SHIELD could have your tabloid shut down before we walk out of this building."

"What if I choose not to comply? Is your muscle going to hit me?"

Clint looked up. "Nah, I'm going to let her do that."

Jameson's smart-ass smirk changed to a look of pure horror.

"Listen, Jameson, it's not an option," Amanda said.

"Captain America burned down that building and has now disappeared. Ever since he was unfrozen, he's been a menace to the city, just like all the other super-freaks," Jameson said. "Spider-man, Iron Man, and the Hulk…Captain America is just the next one in line."

"You're wrong," Amanda said. She turned around and looked at Clint. "You have to trust me, Jameson. Printing conspiracy theory stories about the Captain isn't going to sell more papers. It's going to ruin people's faith in America itself."

He opened the door and Amanda stepped out into the newsroom and Hawkeye followed behind her. Neither of them said anything until they were in the elevator.

"I think that went well," Hawkeye said. "I especially liked your speech about the country."

"His son is an astronaut; a good one at that," Amanda said. "I just thought I could pull on his heartstrings."

"I suppose that's why Fury let you do this," Clint said. "I would have punched him."

"I honestly think Fury just wanted me to feel important for a minute. When I told him about Jameson, he didn't even seem to care," Amanda said. "Which is fine."

"You're not fine," Hawkeye said.

Amanda sighed.

"What's going on in that head?" Hawkeye said.

Amanda shook her head. She didn't really want to have this conversation right now. And not with Clint. She had talked to Tony about it a little bit, but the whole thing embarrassed her.

"Fury's not telling us everything," Amanda said.

Hawkeye was silent for a minute.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I know that he operates more secretively that we do, but he's got even more irons in the fire that you could imagine," she replied. "Do you know anything about the Winter Soldier?" she asked, whispering.

"Let's go talk about this somewhere," Hawkeye said. "And let's get Tasha and Stark."

…

Nick Fury was sitting in his office, holding a meeting with Cap, Dugan and Bucky on their way to Michigan.

"It has to be the west coast of Michigan, right on the lake," Steve said.

Fury nodded. "I'm glad you were able to narrow it down like you did. How much longer until you get there?"

"Probably about an hour," Dugan replied. "You know, we're going to stick out like a bunch of sore thumbs."

"As long as you find the base, it's not really an issue," Fury said. "Do you have everything you'll need?"

"We should have all the supplies necessary," Steve said.

"Okay, check in when you land. Keep me updated," Fury said.

"You got it, sir," Steve said.

The screen was disconnected and went black and Fury turned to the knocking on his door.

"Come in," Fury replied.

Agent Maria Hill walked into the room.

"Director Fury, I just got word from our tech department that someone broke into your secret files," she explained. 

"_My_ secret files?" Fury asked. "Did they track who it was?"

"Agent Carter," Hill replied. "I recommend full debriefing and discharge from SHIELD."

"No," Fury said. "I wanted her to take charge like this."

"Excuse me, sir, but what?" Maria asked.

"This is a test, Agent Hill. Carter is our youngest agent, the most emotional and the least likely to trust people," Fury said. "I need to test her loyalty to SHIELD, versus just me. She doesn't trust me now and she's going to figure out about the Winter Soldier and Dum-Dum all on her own."

"What if she discusses this with other SHIELD team members?" Maria asked. "What if she rallies them to her side?"

"That's what I want, Agent Hill," Fury said. "I want to see how strong she really is."

Hill didn't seem to be so sure of her boss.

"Carter is dealing with a lot right now. And in the midst of it all, she believes that the leader of her unit is lying to her and all of the other SHIELD agents and Avengers. She's pushed aside thoughts of her family, her aunt in a coma, and even Rogers to try and figure out what's going on," Fury said.

"Is it safe to have her not trust you?" Hill asked.

"Is it safe if she only trusts me and not her own instincts?"

… … …

"So you're saying that Fury is keeping secrets?" Natasha asked.

Amanda was busy typing away when Natasha asked the question. And then a second later, the dark room had the private Winter Soldier files up for everyone to see.

"I thought he was dead," Natasha said.

"Right, James Buchanan Barnes died in the forties," Tony said. "My dad told me that."

"No, I ran into him in a mission several years back, when I was working for the Soviets," Natasha said.

All eyes turned towards her.

"Oh, come on; I'm not proud of it, but you all knew," she explained.

"She's right," Hawkeye said. "Moving on," he said, putting an arm around the redhead's shoulders.

"He was shot and killed by his own team, or at least that's what we thought happened. That's how HYDRA made it look," Natasha said.

Amanda moved to the screen and pointed out the grainy video on one of the displays.

"Well, Fury told Tony and I that this is the Winter Soldier that is pulling Captain Rogers from the burning warehouse. And he said that it has to be the original one, James Buchanan Barnes…Bucky," Amanda explained.

"Why would Fury keep this from us?" Natasha said.

All of the agents that worked for Fury had been lost souls of some kind. Fury had essentially saved each and every one of them and the notion that he was lying to them all was terrifying.

"I don't know," Amanda replied.

Amanda hit a few more buttons on the computer and another map randomly popped up.

"What's that?" Hawkeye asked, watching a moving dot on the map.

Tony moved closer and studied it. "Radar. Who are you tracking?"

Amanda shook her head. She hadn't been tracking anyone, she thought.

Then it hit her. She'd left the screen to search for Steve up and running, in case his tracker came up somewhere.

"It's Captain Rogers," Amanda said. "Well, at least it's his tracking device."

"Looks like the device is heading to Michigan's west coast," Hawkeye said. "We should probably go find out what they're doing."

Amanda and Natasha looked at one another. He was right.

"You in?" Amanda asked Tony.

"Are you kidding me?" Tony asked. "I'm already there."

…

Cap and Amanda are going to be reunited soon!

Leave me a review! Thanks!


	23. Chapter 22

Here's the next one! Please read and enjoy!

Into the New World

Chapter 22

"Why would someone be using Cap's GPS tracker?" Hawkeye asked as they moved down the hallway in the Avenger's mansion.

"The question is why would they bother to turn it on?" Tony asked.

"Well, it's either a trap or simply an accident," Natasha replied.

"Or both," Amanda answered.

"Grab your things, ladies and gentleman. We can take the jet," Tony said. "You want to fly it?" he asked Hawkeye.

"You know it," he replied.

"I got your suit finished, MandyAnn. You can test it out now," Tony said.

"No trial runs? Just straight to field testing, eh?" Natasha asked.

"She's our star beta-tester," Tony said. "Meet you in the jet in four minutes."

Four and a half minutes later, they had assembled on the jet, dragging Thor and Bruce along.

"What's going on?" Bruce asked, cleaning his glasses with the sleeve of his flannel shirt.

"Cap's GPS tracker was activated and is in Michigan."

"I've been in Michigan before; terrible weather," Bruce mumbled. "But there's lots of trees to hide in though."

The group looked back and forth at each other in silence.

"Won't Fury be…well, furious?" Thor asked, leaning his chin on his hand. "He seems to be the kind of man who likes to know what is happening; particularly when it is something of this nature."

"Director Fury is keeping secrets," Tony said.

"So we are going to keep some of our own," Amanda said.

"Is fighting fire with fire a good idea?" Bruce asked. "Think of the consequences."

"Fury has an ex-Soviet spy who is formerly a _deceased_ American soldier working for him; with us, essentially. They…_HYDRA…_ were keeping Barnes on ice until they needed him and then put him back into a stasis until they needed him again. Like I said, supposedly he's on our side now," Amanda explained. "And apparently he's who pulled Captain Rogers from the burning warehouse."

"Do we know that for certain?" Thor asked.

"Of course not. We were not able to get a positive I.D. on the man in the grainy video," Amanda said.

"So the Captain could be with this man," Bruce said. "If it really is who we think it is. Which it probably isn't."

"You're full of positivity, aren't you?" Tony asked rhetorically.

"It's possible," Natasha said. "It could be Barnes."

"This is ridiculous," Thor replied angrily.

"We're going on a wild hunt for nothing! This is a trap, plain and simple. The same kind that you fell for before!" Thor said, looking straight at Amanda. "I wanted the Captain to be our leader; he was a good man. But he's gone now; we must move on."

Tony saw the look of horror and anger on Amanda's face and he knew he had to step in. She was a strong person, but taking on a god that was almost a foot taller than her was not a good idea.

"Listen, Longhair, there is a chance that this is a good lead. We owe it to Captain Rogers that we follow it."

"How far out are we?" Bruce asked.

"The signal keeps moving," Natasha replied. "Maybe two hours."

"I do not like this metal contraption," Thor said. He dropped his hammer and the whole jet shook.

"Hey!" Tony shouted. "I realize that it must be awful to look like a young Dog the Bounty Hunter, but…"

Bruce laughed, but stifled it as quickly as he could when both Tony and Thor looked in his direction.

It was obvious that Thor had no idea who Tony was referencing, but by the laugh that Bruce Banner was suppressing, he knew it had to be some kind of insult.

"Gentlemen, it is _not_ the most ideal situation. But remember, you are all part of the same team!" she shouted to be heard over the petty arguing that had begun.

"You say this after you tell us Fury has been lying to us?" Bruce asked her, effectively silencing the group.

"No matter what, we were brought together to become a team, whether Fury is in charge or not, okay?" Amanda said. "So sit yourselves down and relax for a minute. Have a snack."

Natasha and Hawkeye exchanged glances. They had been part of dysfunctional teams before, but this was a new one. Natasha opened her mouth to say something, but Hawkeye just shook his head to stop her.

"Go put your suit on," Tony said, handing her a case. "Bathroom's back there," he pointed behind her.

"Tony…"

"Just go," he said.

Amanda took the case and moved into one of the bathrooms on the jet.

"If it works, I'm going to make one for each of you," Tony said to Natasha and Hawkeye.

"And if it doesn't work, we'll be looking for bits of Amanda," Natasha said under her breath.

"Tony!" Amanda yelled. "This is too small."

She stepped out and all eyes available were on her. The suit, in all white, fit to Amanda's curves perfectly.

"It's supposed to be snug, Amanda. It's Adamantium-mesh and spandex," Tony explained.

"How do you suggest we test it?" Bruce asked, eyeing the woman.

"In all reality, it's not going to be any worse than your old suit. It's never going to be as amazing as an Iron Man suit, but at least it has Stark Industry tech in it," Tony explained.

"If I don't make it," Amanda began, "sue him for faulty construction on my behalf."

Bruce laughed again and this time, Thor grinned, too.

"…And I still think it's too tight," Amanda said.

"You're moving just fine in it," Tony said.

"It's okay; I don't need to breathe," Amanda said.

"Hey! GPS tracker is slowing down!"

Amanda pulled up a screen and the GPS tracker showed up. Tony, Bruce and Amanda gathered around the map. She zoomed in on the map of Michigan and counties and smaller cities began to appear.

"They aren't going anywhere. They are only heading towards the lake," Bruce said, reading the map. "There is nothing there."

"JARVIS, give us a topographical map of Michigan," Tony said.

JARVIS complied and the elevation started to show on the map before them.

"Michigan is kind of a flat state, isn't it?" Bruce said.

"JARVIS, what's on the west coast? Things to see? Places to visit?" Amanda asked.

"According to the location of the GPS pinpoint, they are located at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It's a state park of Michigan," JARVIS said.

"What can you tell us about that?" Tony asked.

"It changed from private land to public property in 1970. It covers approximately 71,187 acres of land, that includes forest, sand dunes, beaches, and glacial phenomena, as well as the North and South Manitou Islands," JARVIS said. "It was also named by the television program _Good Morning America_ in 2011 as 'the Most Beautiful Place in America'. It was named for an old Chippewa legend. Would you like to hear it?"

"Maybe later," Natasha said.

"Thank you, JARVIS," Amanda said.

"Great, I'm going to get sand in my joints," Tony said.

"At least it's a fresh water lake; no saltwater to make you rusty," Hawkeye said from the front of the jet.

"You're such a comedian," Tony replied sarcastically.

"How much longer?" Thor asked.

"Yeah, the big guy is starting to get anxious," Bruce added.

"What do you mean _anxious_?" Natasha said. Anything that wasn't calm, cool, or collected was cause for concern when they spoke of _the big guy_.

"He doesn't like planes so much," Bruce said, shrugging.

"What? Did they try and shoot you down King-Kong-style?" Tony asked.

"Who's the comedian now, Stark?" Bruce asked, a vein beginning to protrude in his neck.

"We've still got a ways to go," Hawkeye said. "Why don't we all take a time out?"

"Time out?" Natasha repeated snidely.

"Tasha, they're acting like children. Time to treat 'em like they are, too."

"Do you think it's odd that we haven't been contacted by Fury?" Bruce asked. "I mean, who's watching the city if we're all here on this wild goose chase."

"You didn't have to come," Hawkeye said. He was starting to get frustrated with this group; the petty arguing was going to give him a migraine.

"Please don't antagonize Doctor Banner," Amanda said. "The SHIELD agents in the city will be able to hold off any potential issues while we're gone."

"Have you considered the notion that this is a trap and while we're here, HYDRA is poised to take over your precious Midgardian city?" Thor asked, crossing his arms. "I just need the Tesseract; it belongs back in Asgard. Midgard is too weak to use such a great tool. That has been proven. Once I get it, I'm using it go get back home to put it in its rightful place."

Tony rolled his eyes. He was tired of hearing about Asgard and Midgard and the like. He might be a god. He might be _very _tall. But he was also very annoying.

"I'm not giving my speech again. So everyone just shut up and ride in silence until we touch down," Amanda said.

An odd calm came over the jet as they all continued their flight halfway across the country; no one really wanted to hear Amanda's speech again.

… … …

"What is with all this sand?" Dugan asked as they departed their plane.

"It's a beach, Dugan," Bucky said. "That's what classifies it as such."

"Actually, what makes it a beach is the fact that it is on the shore of a body of water," Steve said non-chalantly as he surveyed the landscape. "It could technically be all pebbles and rocks and still be a beach."

"Always the intellectual-type, weren't ya, Steve?" Bucky said, clapping the Captain on the back.

"I had to do something when I was a kid. I didn't want to get beat up _every_ day," Steve replied. "It's going to start getting dark soon; we need to do the most thorough search we can in the time that we've got."

"Could the base be underwater?" Dugan asked.

Bucky looked at the man in the bowler hat. "I would remember if it was underwater, man," he said.

"Would you, though?" Dugan asked.

"Ya know, I've had it up to here with you, Dugan," Bucky replied. "You've questioned everything I've done since we started working together."

"Oh, pardon me for being a little wary of the former-Soviet spy," Dugan replied. "I know that Fury trusts you, but I don't have to trust you yet. Steve probably doesn't even trust you."

Both men turned to look at Steve in the quickly dimming daylight.

"What?" Steve asked.

"Do you trust Bucky?" Dugan asked.

"What the heck is happening? A week ago, you told me that he was okay and that I should trust him," Steve said. "Suddenly you're telling me I shouldn't believe him?"

"Well…" Dugan began.

"Well what?" Steve shouted. "Do you believe him or not. Or was that a bunch of hooey to try to get me to come along on this mission?"

Neither of the men wanted to respond.

"Fury seemed to believe you, Bucky. My gut says to believe you, too," Steve explained. "I don't like being wrong."

"You're not wrong," Dugan said. "I _do_ trust him. He just gets on my nerves."

Steve looked back at Bucky. His best friend, the one person who stuck up for him, the orphan from Brooklyn, was telling the truth. Steve knew it.

"Then let's get going now that we've sorted that out," Steve said.

The three men started to head up one of the dunes.

"It's going to be hard to hide a secret hideout right here on the shore," Bucky said.

"Unless it's under the dune," Steve said. "It would be a convenient place to hide people."

"The terrain would constantly be changing, though," Dugan said.

Steve shook his head. He knew Dugan was right. Sand terrain changes quickly.

"It could be far below this dune," Steve said.

"This place is a tourist destination. How could they hide HYDRA operations?" Dugan asked.

They both turned to Bucky. He was the only one who had ever been here before.

"I was always here at dusk or later. At least, that's the only time _I _was outside. I did a lot of my dirty work in the cloak of darkness," Bucky explained. "And as you can see, since it's a state park, visitors have to leave at a certain point."

"Okay, we're at the southern end of the park. We can work our way north quickly and quietly looking for an entrance," Steve said.

"I wish I would have brought my metal detector," Bucky said under his breath.

"You had just better hope your HYDRA detector is working," Dugan replied, clapping him on the back.

The three men started systematically move north on the dunes. There was no moon to light their paths, yet they continued on in the darkness. Below them, Steve could hear the waves crashing on the shore. It would have been a very pleasant and beautiful place had they been there for any other reason besides hunting HYDRA.

"Hey Cap!" Bucky yelled from a short distance away. "I found tracks."

Steve jogged as best he could in the sand over to where Bucky's voice was coming from.

"What kind of tracks are they?"

"They look like they could be all-terrain vehicles," Bucky replied. "Or golf carts."

Dugan raised an eyebrow. "They probably don't allow golf carts up here."

"Uh, yeah," Bucky replied.

"Let's see where these tracks go," Steve said, interrupting them. "Come on."

They followed the tire tracks and then suddenly they stopped.

"Dead end," Bucky said.

"Whatever this was had to go somewhere," Steve said. 

They had reached a point in one of the dunes where it rose up taller next to them on the right side as the water stretched out down below on their left.

The Captain, Bucky and Dugan all turned to admire the view from where they were standing. They'd been doing missions in much less picturesque locations, so they couldn't complain too much.

"You're all such idiots!" a man's voice growled from behind them.

They all whipped around and suddenly they were surrounded by HYDRA agents being led by Crossbones.

"This is going to be so easy," Crossbones said.

"Don't count on it," Amanda replied, as she, and the rest of the Avengers team joined the Captain and the others.

… … …

I know, I know. It's another cliffhanger. But that's the best way to do it! Lol. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it. Please leave me some love…i.e., a review. Thanks a million! Schawarma for all!


	24. Chapter 23

Into the New World

Chapter 23

"This is going to be so easy," Crossbones said.

"Don't count on it," Amanda replied, as she, and the rest of the Avengers team joined the Captain and the others.

"How'd you find us?" the Captain asked Amanda. He didn't plan on ever telling anyone, but he was very relieved to have them arrive.

"Maybe we ought to talk about that later, Captain," Hawkeye said.

"This reunion is touching, however, I'm going to have to interrupt you," Crossbones said.

The man in the mask drew a gun and all of the HYDRA agents did as well.

Bullets were fired and Cap and his shield dove in front of Amanda to save her from the speeding bullets.

In the middle of the fighting, Sin, the lithe redheaded woman came out from some unknown location at the first sounds of commotion. All motion stopped as she walked towards them.

"We've got the whole crew, eh?" Sin smiled maniacally.

Captain Rogers narrowed his eyes in her direction. "Just more of us to bring you in, Ms. Schmitt," he said through gritted teeth.

"You seem _so_ sure of yourself, Captain," she purred as she put a gloved hand on his chest.

Steve smacked her hand away with more force than he'd intended and more force than Sin had expected. But Sin recovered quickly.

"It's okay, Stevie-baby," she smiled. "I like it rough." She turned to Crossbones. "Why are you just…_standing there_?" she demanded shrilly.

"Waiting on your word, Sin. And for you to quit playing with Rogers," he replied. "Just let me kill him first."

Amanda knew this was her chance. While Sin and Crossbones were having their couple's squabble, she rushed Sin and took her flying down the side of the sand dune. Both women rolled down the hill in the cold, damp sand, kicking, punching and clawing at one another.

For a brief, incredibly brief, moment, no one knew what had just happened. But soon curses and shouts coming from both women floated up the sand dune and into the night sky.

Steve used his own element of surprise and decked Crossbones upside the head with all of his strength. The big man in all black went down like a stack of bricks landing in a crumpled heap in the sand.

"I'm going to help Amanda," Steve said before beginning his descent down the sand dune.

HYDRA agents were beginning to appear up by them on the dune as well as down on the shore.

"I guess we're going down by the water," Hawkeye said.

There was no graceful way to get down the sand dune. Tony was the only one who made it without slipping, even just a little bit, but that was thanks to his jets.

HYDRA agents were continuing to spill out onto the shore and on top of the dune. Bucky, Dugan and Thor were stood on top to take on those agents while the others rushed to Amanda's aid.

Amanda was holding her own against the vicious and ruthless redhead. There was some hair pulling and slapping, but Amanda was landing some decent punches.

"You should have just actually died back in the warehouse. You wouldn't have to watch your friends die," Sin laughed. Sin pulled a gun from a holster on her thigh and aimed at Natasha who was too busy to notice the other redheaded woman.

Amanda kicked out, full of power and anger, and connected with Sin's shooting hand. The gun hit the water with a splash and Sin held her now-broken hand in pain.

Tony had a crowd of fallen agents around him when he maneuvered himself so that he could see the whole situation. He needed to find out where HYDRA was hiding in this dune.

"Can you see anything, Stark?" Thor yelled as he brought his hammer around to take down three agents at once.

"My sensors are saying it's some kind of holographic projection. Probably keeps the tourists from causing trouble," Tony said.

"That's not all that important, Stark," Dugan replied.

"As soon as this is over I'm going to find out who you are!" Tony shouted.

His friends were outnumbered, ten to one easily, but Tony knew the best way to stop them was to find the hidden door.

"JARVIS, start scans. Look for any anomalies. Make adjustments for current climate," Tony told his computer.

While JARVIS worked his scientific magic, Tony tried to blast as many HYDRA as he could.

"Sir, there is a distinctly different energy signature coming from your left. By those rocks."

Tony switched his scanner and also picked up on what JARVIS had found.

"I got something!" Tony shouted.

Iron Man brought himself down to the source and more HYDRA agents were still flowing out of nowhere. A couple blasts from his suit and the agents had all fallen. Tony began to investigate to find the reason behind their current predicament.

He found himself walking straight through it.

"Seriously? What the hell?" Tony said once he'd destroyed the projector. Confused soldiers came through the now visible doorway and Tony kept taking them out each time another fancied an adventure.

"Did no one notice them building this?" he asked to no one specific.

Amanda was in knee deep water still fighting Sin. Sin had forced all of her henchmen to focus on the others so she could kill Amanda herself, but it was proving to be more difficult than she'd thought.

Sin's fighting skills were ruthless to say the least while the other fights were occurring between skilled fighters. Sin was trying to distract Amanda with pinches and hair tugs. Mostly it was annoying Amanda instead of doing any real damage. That was until Sin started to swing a knife wildly.

In the moonlight, Amanda was sure it was serrated; to do the most damage.

Sin was physically a good match for Amanda. They were close in height and weight, with Sin being the thinner of the two.

Amanda watched as the knife zoomed past her and past her again. The suit Tony made her was good, but it wasn't going to keep her from being stabbed. And the serrated edge would make it much worse.

But it wasn't easy for Sin. Her high-heeled boots continuously sunk into the sand and the waves were coming with more force; a storm was on the horizon.

However, once Tony destroyed their projector, it caused a loud boom and created a perfect distraction for Sin. Amanda landed an elbow to Sin's nose, connecting with a sickening crunch. It caused Sin to bellow in agony and lose her footing. She fell backwards into Lake Michigan with a large splash. Blood gushed and swirled around the woman in the water as Sin yelled curses.

Bucky, Dugan, Tony and Thor had cleared the top of the dune. Once it was discovered that the Avengers knew about the door, the HYDRA soldiers stopped coming out to join them. The four men planned on making a trip down the "rabbit hole" to clear the rest of them out. They could lead a surprise attack while the others finished their fights.

Amanda got Sin restrained and dragged her through the sand on shore to ensure she wouldn't drown.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked. He pointed down to her thigh. A red was blossoming on the white second-skin suit. She hadn't even noticed that Sin had done it.

"Ask me that again when this whole thing is over," Amanda replied, half smirking.

Both Cap and Amanda joined their friends.

"There are too many of them," Hawkeye said.

The Hulk swung and took out a dozen at once, but there were still at least 50 HYDRA agents around them. None of the agents around them looked like they were going to give up, despite the fact that their leaders were unavailable.

As if reading their minds, Nick Fury and his helicarrier landed on the lake.

He emerged on the shore with a giant weapon.

"Is that a bazooka?" Natasha asked as more SHIELD agents came out of the ship and onto the shore. Suddenly, it was a fair fight.

Once the dunes were secure, they began the climb back up. It was even less fun than going down. SHIELD agents were going to put Sin on the helicarrier while she was under sedation.

"What about this one, Cap?" Coulson called about the unconscious Crossbones.

Steve had just helped Amanda make the climb with her injured leg and strode over to Coulson.

"He goes with us, too. He and Schmitt have a hell of a lot of explaining to do," Steve said.

"Where is Tony…and Thor?"

"And Bucky and Dugan?" Cap asked.

Everyone looked around.

"Would they have gone down into the base?" Hawkeye asked. But everyone knew the answer to that question.

"What do you this is down here?" Amanda asked Steve as they all started down the cavernous hallway. It was dark and damp and at a steep angle in the sand.

"Knowing HYDRA, it could be anything," Steve replied.

A massive boom stopped their descent and knocked Amanda off of her feet in surprise.

Sand was falling everywhere as though they were in a giant hour glass.

Seconds later, Dugan, Bucky, Thor and Tony were running at them from the other end of the tunnel at full speed.

"This shit is collapsing!" Dugan yelled while running towards them. "Thanks to Mr. Wizard back there."

"I saved your asses!" Tony shouted back.

"Let's just all get out of here!" Steve shouted, dragging Bucky by the collar. He appeared injured and he wasn't about to leave the man to get buried alive.

Breathing hard, the Avengers members made it out of the entrance and down the dune once more. They all surveyed the damage as it was collapsing upon itself.

Fury walked up behind them. "If you think tonight was difficult, just wait until we have to dig up the mess."

"Dig it up?" Bucky asked in disbelief.

"We need to search the place."

"Don't bother, Fury," Tony said as the mask zoomed back off of his face. "There was nothing down there. Just a big hole. Just a gathering place with a bunch of soldiers."

"He's right. Only one way in or out," Bucky replied.

"That doesn't make any sense," Amanda said. "There has to be some other explanation."

"Once we get on the helicarrier, I can show you what I recorded. We can make a decision after that."

…to be continued…

Thank you so much for sticking with this story. As some of you might know, I'm also writing a Dark Knight fic, but Cap will always be my first love.

Anyway, it's been an 80 hour work week, so some love in the form of a review or comment would make my week awesome! Thanks again!


	25. Chapter 24

Into the New World

Chapter 24

Agent Amanda Carter knew she not only _wanted_ to see what information Tony had recorded, but she _needed_ to see it. But the adrenaline of the situation had finally begun to wear off. The pain from the gash on her leg was beginning to throb and gush blood each time she took a step. She wasn't even able to put her full weight on her leg anymore. Amanda was going to need to find some medical assistance before she could focus on anything else.

Bucky Barnes wasn't in much better condition. He'd been within the blast radius when Tony had fired. Bucky was now holding his side, a nasty wound showing through what was left of his shirt.

Captain Rogers was torn. He wanted to go with both Amanda and Bucky to get them fixed up. Steve hurried up and made a decision, moving to help Amanda continue to walk, but she pushed him away.

"Go with Bucky," Amanda said. "I am going to go stitch myself up," she said with a wave of her hand.

Amanda nodded at him, trying to be reassuring and then continued to move down the corridor of the medical section of the helicarrier.

Steve turned back to Bucky, who was leaning uncomfortably against the wall behind him. He shook his head in disgust as other doctors came to Bucky's aid.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Bucky said. "Go get her."

"But she…" Steve began.

"Doesn't matter," Bucky cut him off. "Go get her," he repeated.

Steve didn't waste another single second. He rushed off down the hallway, almost happy that she couldn't get around too quickly.

The door of the exam room she had slipped into was still standing partially ajar.

"Amanda?" he said into the crack of the door.

"Come on in," Amanda sighed.

Steve walked into the room and was greeted with the sight of Amanda attempting to cut off the leg of her second-skin white suit. The slash in her leg was in her upper thigh and she was struggling just a little bit.

"I wanted to avoid taking off the whole suit," she offered as an explanation while Steve stared at her in confusion.

"Let me help," Steve said. She'd gotten it started, but Steve was able to merely take the fabric in his hands and tear it apart and off of her leg.

"Thank you," Amanda said in a little bit of shock.

Steve surveyed the now-naked leg with the still-bleeding wound. "How…how bad is it?" he asked her.

Amanda poked gingerly at her leg and it bled more.

"It could be worse," she answered. "But it doesn't feel good."

"What can I do?" he asked.

"Hand me the suture kit on the counter over there."

Steve forced himself to turn away from her and went to find the kit that she asked for. He found it on the counter where Amanda said it was; he opened it and handed it back to her.

"Thank you," Amanda said putting it down next to her.

"What's next?" he asked.

"Now I have to sew myself up," she half-smiled. "No big deal."

… … …

In the meeting room, the rest of the Avengers had gathered with Nick Fury.

"Are we waiting for Carter and Rogers?" Natasha asked as Tony was typing information into a computer.

"No," Fury said. "I want to get this information now."

Natasha nodded. When Director Fury had made up his mind, there was no changing it.

"Everyone ready?" Tony asked, not turning around from the computer.

But he didn't wait for a response. The lights immediately turned down on their own and a projector began playing what Tony had recorded.

All eyes were on the images projected on the wall screen.

The room at the end of the tunnel was clinical, all white tiles and simple light fixtures. There wasn't anything on any walls or any furniture filling the room. But there were soldiers. The soldiers rushed Iron Man, Dugan and Bucky, but that's when Tony blasted them all and the place started to collapse.

The recording then went dead and the lights in the room came back on.

"So, that wasn't all that helpful," Bruce Banner said, breaking the silence of the meeting room.

"Nope, not really," Hawkeye agreed.

"They didn't haul all those soldiers here, march them down there to have them stand shoulder to shoulder until they needed them," Natasha said, disagreeing with the men.

"Natasha's right," Fury said. "But we need to figure out how they were getting those soldiers down there."

"The walls were solid, Fury. No joints in the walls, no hinges," Tony answered them. "What are they doing, using magic?" he asked sarcastically. He plopped down the chair beside him.

"Not magic, but what if they are teleporting…?"

"Teleporting?" Tony asked incredulously. "Really?"

"How do you think Thor travels between Asgard and Earth?" Natasha asked.

"You don't believe him, do you?" Tony asked.

"It's not the least-believable thing he's ever said," Natasha replied.

"Thank you, Agent Romanoff," Fury said, rolling his eye.

"I'm sorry, Fury, I'm still just a little pissed that you were withholding information from us all," Tony said. "And who is this guy?" he asked, pointing at Dugan.

Dugan ran a hand through his handlebar moustache and waited for Fury to answer him.

"He is Dum-Dum Dugan, a pal of Rogers from the war, as well as Barnes…"

"Speaking of Barnes, why did you not tell us that Barnes was back?" Tony asked.

The door to the room opened and Steve helped Amanda into the space.

"I'd actually just like to speak with Agent Carter alone," Fury said. "Are you well enough for that, Carter?"

"I'm fine," she said.

All of the tired people in the room rose to their feet and began to shuffle out of the room. Everyone except Amanda, Fury and Steve.

"I'd like to stay, Director Fury," Steve said.

Fury considered the idea for a moment.

"I suppose that would be all right. Please take a seat," he said, waving a hand at the now empty table full of chairs. "I'm just going to get right down to it. I didn't tell you about Barnes and Operation: Winter Soldier because I wanted to see if you could be the leader that SHIELD needs."

Amanda sat silently waiting for Fury to elaborate.

"You're young, relatively new to SHIELD, and obviously in love with Rogers," he said. Amanda opened her mouth to say anything, but he held up his hand to stop her. "I don't care about that last part. But I _needed _to know that you could lead the group. I was being selfish, in reality. I wanted to make sure that even if you didn't trust in me, that you trusted in yourself enough to push the uncertainty of the situation down and move forward. And you did that."

Amanda nodded. She still wasn't sure if she believed Fury and she was now embarrassed that her feelings for Steve had been laid out on the table.

"Agent Hill is going to be moving to the west coast to take over that unit," Fury said. "I want you to take her position here. I know it's a lot to take in, so I'll let you two alone."

Fury rose from his own chair and exited the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Well, that's good news," Steve said to Amanda after a bit of silence.

"I guess," Amanda said. She stood from her seat and began to pace through the room. Steve stood up to follow her.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"That doesn't make me feel any better about trusting him. I suppose he could have been telling the truth, but why would he need to...?" she trailed off. But she realized that Steve was looking into her eyes intently. "What?"

"I love you, too," he said before pressing his lips to hers in a passionate kiss.

_To hell with everything else,_ Steve thought. _ He had Amanda now; nothing else mattered._

To be continued…

A/N: okay, there was the next update. Leave me some reviews :)


	26. Chapter 25

Into the New World

Chapter 25

Captain Rogers was standing uncomfortably amid a sea of celebrating people. The music was blaring and there were SHIELD agents and their significant others were dressed to the nines and were dancing to music that Steve wasn't really a fan of. Even Bucky was dancing.

As soon as he'd heard about her promotion, Stark insisted on throwing Amanda a celebratory party. She'd tried to refuse, but then, no one really was ever able to say no to Tony.

Technically, she hadn't even accepted the position yet. That first night on the helicarrier, Amanda had kept Steve so busy doing other things, including changing the subject every time he mentioned the job, that he doubted that she'd even given it a second thought. And honestly, Steve had been having a good time, too, so he didn't press the subject too much with her.

Naturally, Bucky wanted to know if they'd gone all the way that night. As Steve's best friend, he'd known about his lack of experience with women and it would have been his first time.

Steve blushed bright red when Bucky asked him. Steve thought back to that morning. They were back in New York overnight and that morning, Steve and Bucky were in the gym.

"I don't know what that means, Steve," Bucky laughed. "Just tell me if you nailed her or not."

Steve wanted to slug the guy right then and there. "Nail her?" Steve asked. "That is crude, Buck."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Seriously, dude, you're going to have to get with the times."

"I _know_ I have to adapt to the world now, Bucky, but seriously? I am not ever going to say I _nailed_ someone unless I have actually hit them with a hammer. And that's more of Thor's thing," Steve said, laughing at his own joke.

"That was bad, man," Bucky said, also laughing at Steve's joke. "But you really aren't going to tell me if you slept with her?"

"How is it your business?" Steve replied.

Bucky pretended to be offended. "Seriously, Steve. I'm your best friend. You can tell me."

"All right!" Steve said, swinging hard at the punching bag and causing it to fly off its chains. "No. We didn't…you know…" he finished quietly.

"No wonder. You can't even call it _sex_," Bucky said.

Steve's face turned bright red again.

"Did you even talk to _her_ about it?" Bucky asked.

"Why are we talking about this again?" Steve asked back as he hung the punching bag again.

"You could tell her that you love her but you couldn't talk to her about having sex with her? Did she say anything?" Bucky asked.

"No, but she'd just put her own stitches in her leg and I didn't really want to push my luck last night."

"Did she at least stay with you last night?" Bucky asked.

"Yes," Steve replied, utterly exasperated.

Bucky smiled an evil grin. "Well, that's a good sign."

"She slept in one of my t-shirts," Steve volunteered.

"Well, that's a _really_ good sign."

"Yeah?"

"Did you get to see her change?"

"Bucky!"

"She _is_ gorgeous, Steve. And I'm a man. It can't be helped."

Steve rounded on his friend and backed him up against the wall suddenly. Bucky was taken by surprise and hit the wall with a loud thud.

"Do NOT talk about her like that!" Steve said, holding him against the brick with one arm. "Don't," he warned again.

Bucky put his hands up in a surrendering motion.

"I'm sorry, man," Bucky wheezed.

Steve unexpectedly let go and Bucky fell to the floor.

"You have got to quit doing that, Steve," Bucky said as he rubbed the area on his chest where Steve was holding him.

"Then don't talk about Amanda like that," Steve said, walking away from the man on the floor.

"I'm really am sorry, Steve," Bucky said. "I won't do it again. I just don't want you to waste any more time. You've already lost out on so much by being frozen for so long. The time isn't to be shy. You're effing Captain America, dude."

"I'll keep that in mind," Steve replied dryly. "I have a meeting with Fury."

He picked up his things and was out of the gym without another word.

That's how he'd left things with Bucky. It didn't seem to be affecting the other man. He was dancing with some blond woman that Steve didn't recognize. She looked too young to be an agent. Maybe she worked for Stark.

"What are you doing over here all by yourself?" a voice said to him, breaking him from his thoughts.

Steve smiled when he realized who it was.

"I was just waiting for you," he said to Amanda.

He couldn't help the look that he gave her as she stepped into his full view.

Amanda was wearing a party dress that hit just above her knees in a blue that matched that of his Captain America uniform. It matched her eyes perfectly, too. His eyes followed the dress to her knees and down to her feet. She was wearing bright red high heeled shoes. Steve realized that he was still staring at her legs and forced his head back up to meet her eyes.

"You look very…"

"Patriotic?" Amanda answered. "That's what Tony said."

"Don't listen to him. You look beautiful."

Amanda blushed and the low neckline of the dress allowed Steve to watch it spread down her neck on onto her chest.

"You look pretty good yourself," Amanda said, admiring the suit that Steve had dressed himself in.

"Thank you," Steve said. "Stark insisted on having suits made for me."

"I would imagine that it would be difficult to shop off the rack when you're a superhero," Amanda said smirking and playing with the lapel of his suit jacket. "Would you like to dance?" she asked as a slower song came on.

Steve hesitated.

"Steve?" Amanda said.

"This is really familiar, um, I don't know how to dance."

Amanda smiled. "Come on, let's go," she said, putting her hand on his.

It was awkward for a few seconds, as Steve didn't know where he should put his hands after she pulled him out onto the dance floor, but Amanda helped him and his hands found the curves of her hips a very comfortable resting place. The two of them started to sway to the music and Amanda closed the gap between them. She rested her head on his shoulder and for a few minutes, Steve forgot about everything that had happened, both recent and in the past. It felt right and it felt good.

The song was over too quickly.

Amanda looked up into Steve's eyes; normally they were bright blue, like her own, but now they were dark with want. But before either of them could say anything, Tony Stark's voice boomed through the crowd.

"Welcome, welcome, ladies and gentleman," he yelled. He was dressed in a tuxedo and looked very dapper indeed. "Now, I don't normally need a reason to have a party, this time I actually have one. Let's have a round of applause for our little Mandy Ann, excuse me, Amanda, who now is second in command for all of SHIELD!" Tony said. "Where is she? Amanda, come on up here."

A spotlight hit Amanda, who was still wrapped in Steve's arms, and illuminated the both of them.

"Oh, look at the lovebirds!" Tony yelled, embarrassing the both of them. "Come on up here!"

But neither Amanda nor Steve moved.

"Rogers, come on, man, bring her up here."

Steve looked down at Amanda and she shrugged and sighed.

"He's not going to let it go," Amanda said to Steve.

"I'm not going to drag you up there if you don't want to go," he said back to her.

"He's going to come down here if we don't go."

Slowly, Steve escorted Amanda through the parting crowd and he held her arm as she climbed the steps onto the stage.

"Say a few words, my dear," Tony said into the microphone.

"Do I have to?" Amanda asked into Tony's ear.

"Yes, you do," Tony laughed.

"Okay, well," Amanda began. "Tony is full of bull shit and he wanted to have a party," she laughed.

The whole crowd laughed with her and her statement.

"And he _says_ it's for my promotion, but in fact, I know him well enough that this is actually my birthday party, which he promised me that he'd never do again," Amanda said, looking to Tony with an exasperated expression.

Steve's eyes went wide with surprise. It was her birthday?

"I don't really have anything else to say, except, thank you for coming, everyone. And since it's on Tony's tab, eat and drink 'til your heart's content."

Amanda kissed Tony on the cheek and Steve led her back down the stairs.

"It's your birthday?" Steve asked into her ear once they were out of everyone's vision. The sensation sent shivers through her and she turned to look at him.

"It is," Amanda replied. "You know, I'm not that big of a fan of parties. Even if they are for me."

Steve watched her again, his eyes darkening once more as he watched her lips move.

"Let's get out of here, them," Steve replied.

…

A/N: Okay, it's sort of just a fluffy chapter, but I feel like Steve deserves a good time now and then. More action and an end are coming up. Please let me know what you thought; and leave a review. Thank you everyone!


	27. Chapter 26

Into the New World

Chapter 26

Steve Rogers woke up with a start. He'd been having a terrible nightmare. He was back in the Valkyrie and he was watching the ocean coming closer and closer until it fully enveloped him and the ship. First it was cold, then it was just black.

Steve had had his dream hundreds of times since they had unfrozen him; it happened almost every single night. But this time it was different. This time he wasn't cold when he woke up. There was something warm next to him.

Opening his eyes, he smiled at the source of the warmth. Amanda Carter had her face buried into his chest and the rest of her body was pressed against his own.

Last night had gone remarkably well; at least it went well for Steve. He hoped that Amanda would agree with him. They had left the party and gone straight back to his room. Steve had been tentative about everything, considering his inexperience in this kind of situation, but he went with his instincts and pinned her against the door after they'd unceremoniously slammed and locked it.

Amanda had been incredibly patient with him, however bad he might have been. But she didn't get up and leave, so he took that as a good sign.

Steve's eyes followed the trail of clothes from the door to the bed. Her party dress was in a pool of blue fabric on the floor by the door. His hands had been shaking when she'd turned around for him to unzip it. She'd helped him remove his suit jacket and tie, then his shirt. Amanda let Steve take off his own pants and he'd left them uncharacteristically in the middle of the floor. Right next to the bed was a pair of red high heels. He was pretty sure he'd committed the image of Amanda in only those shoes to memory for the rest of his life.

Steve was still smiling at her.

"Quit staring at me when I'm sleeping. It's weird," Amanda mumbled into his chest. Her breath and lips tickled his skin.

"If you're asleep, how do you know I'm staring at you?" Steve asked.

"Touché, salesman," Amanda said. She pulled back slowly and looked up at the man in bed with her.

She opened her mouth to say something, but a terribly obnoxious beeping sound cut her off.

"What _is_ that?" Amanda asked.

Steve shook his head.

"I don't know," he replied.

Steve really didn't know what it was, but he was definitely sure that the beeping sound had effectively ruined their moment.

"Captain Rogers, Doctor Carter, this is your morning alarm," JARVIS said answering their question.

"I didn't set an alarm, JARVIS," Steve replied. He tried to not sound annoyed, but he didn't think it was working.

He wondered suddenly how much the computer was aware of in each room of the house. Steve still didn't fully understand the technology of the modern times, but Stark's 'butler' seemed pretty perceptive and all-encompassing. After all, he did run the entire house and help make sure that Stark didn't blow himself up. And now he was making sure the Avengers were taken care of.

"Indeed, Captain. Mr. Stark took the liberty of setting the alarms for all of the Avengers team members," JARVIS told them.

"JARVIS, was the alarm for any particular reason, or just Tony being an ass?" Amanda said.

She stretched in the bed; inadvertently pressing her body against Steve's even more.

"Mr. Stark has laid out a breakfast for you all. Also, Director Fury would like to have a meeting with all the Avengers team members once breakfast is finished," JARVIS explained.

Amanda sighed.

"Thank you, JARVIS," she said.

"Of course, Doctor Carter," JARVIS said.

There was silence in the room for a second before either of them said anything.

"How much is JARVIS aware of?" Steve asked.

"What?" Amanda asked, an eyebrow arching up.

"Did he…?" Steve asked.

"Well, he's not a real person, so no, JARVIS does not know we were having sex, Captain," Amanda said. "And even if he did, he wouldn't tell anyone. He does know the value of discretion, being that Tony is the one who created him."

Steve blushed all over.

"If I say the word _sex_ do you turn that color every time?" she asked.

Steve smiled uneasily.

"It's just…I don't have any experience with women."

"You did pretty well last night," Amanda said.

The pink color on Steve's cheeks turned into a deeper crimson color.

But despite his embarrassment about the praise he was receiving about his sexual abilities, he leaned forward and kissed her. Steve found that he really liked kissing Amanda; it felt right to him.

"I don't know about you, Captain, but I'm still tired. I'm going to go back to sleep," Amanda announced.

"That sounds like a great idea, but…"

"But what?"

"Shouldn't we go to breakfast?" Steve asked.

"You can if you'd like to. But if Fury just wants to chat, he can wait until daylight…"

Amanda's cell phone began to ring.

"Damn. How does he do that?" Amanda asked rhetorically.

She found her phone after some quick naked searching around Steve's room. His eyes followed each of her movements. She was beautiful. And she was totally worth the wait.

Finding her phone, she answered it.

"Hello?" she said, not recognizing the number.

"We're in town; we're going to see your aunt. Your great-grandmother is here, too. At which hospital is she staying?" Amanda's mother barked into the phone.

Steve's eyes widened as he heard the voice across the room.

"Good morning, mom," Amanda replied sarcastically.

"Oh, happy birthday," she said non-chalantly.

"My birthday was actually yesterday, but no big deal. Aunt Peggy is at Tony's private medical facility."

"He's not making her bionic or anything, is he? She probably wouldn't like that."

"No, mom. TO my knowledge, Aunt Peggy isn't being turned into an Iron Man experiment."

"Why isn't she at your hospital?"

"She isn't at my hospital because…" Amanda said slowly. She was trying to come up with a lie. "I can take care of her better here."

"Don't they need you at your job?"

"I took family medical leave so I can be with her."

"Oh," her mother said. "Well, we are en route to Tony's house then. We should be there in about ten minutes. See you soon."

Amanda's mother disconnected the call and Amanda stood completely still and naked in the middle of Steve's bedroom.

"Oh dear Lord," she said.

Concern washed across Steve's face.

"My entire family is going to be here in ten minutes. At the Avenger's headquarters. Um…I have to get dressed and go."

Amanda started to pulling on her dress and struggling to zip it up.

Once she had gathered her things, she bent to kiss Steve, full on the mouth, before dashing out of the room.

Amanda let herself into Natasha's room, effectively waking up her and Hawkeye in the process.

"Sorry! I just need some clothes. Please and thank you," she said before running into the bathroom to change.

A minute later, when she stepped out, Natasha and Hawkeye were sitting up in bed, watching her.

"Did you have a good night?" Nat asked.

"Maybe we should be asking the Captain," Hawkeye smiled.

"Code purple. My parents are almost here."

Nat's eyes widened.

"Code purple?"

"The whole effing Carter clan."

"Sometimes it's nice to know that this shit can't happen to me," Hawkeye said.

"Gotta go," Amanda said before dashing out of the room.

"JARVIS, code purple. Alert everyone."

JARVIS immediately began to run through the alarm instructions and SHIELD agents in the house began to run through protocol.

Amanda met her parents outside the west entrance.

"Good morning," Amanda said brightly.

Her mother, Sharon Carter, eyed her daughter suspiciously.

"You were out late last night," Sharon replied.

"Nope," Amanda shook her head. "Not me."

"I can vouch for that. She disappeared from her own birthday party," Tony said, stepping next to her. "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Carter."

The rest of the Carter family was exiting the cars they had arrived in.

"Good morning, Tony!" her mother smiled. She pulled her in for a hug. He tried to hide the grimace, but Amanda saw it. She rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm glad someone is making some good decisions, Tony. Congratulations on the your work with green energy."

"Well, construction on the new Stark Tower won't begin until next year, but with the discovery of the new element that keeps me alive, it could do great things for our world as well," Tony said. "And mostly it was Pepper's idea."

"I'll remember to tell her that," Amanda said, laughing.

"Don't be rude," Sharon said.

Amanda shook her head. She was trying to keep her thoughts to herself. She should have stayed in bed with Steve. She hoped he wasn't mad at her for rushing out o him like she did.

"Well, should we go in?" Amanda's father asked.

Tony nodded at Amanda. They had stalled long enough.

Tony let them all into the house; _everyone_ had come.

Amanda's older sister and brother, their spouses and all of their children were in tow. Even Amanda's great grandmother and grandma were there.

Not a soul wished her a happy birthday.

"Colleen?" Tony said once they'd gotten to the medical wing of the house. "Could you show the Carter family to where Peg is resting?"

The woman at the desk nodded. It was just a façade. Why would Tony have a reception desk in his own house?

"We'll be along in a minute," Tony said.

The family shuffled off down the hallway, leaving Tony and Amanda.

"Do not let them into your head!" he said, skipping straight to the point.

Amanda nodded. "I know, I know," she said, holding up her hands.

"Take a deep breath," Tony said.

Amanda did as she was told.

"Feel better?"

Amanda lied and nodded.

"Okay, good," Tony said. "So did you sleep with the Captain? Because he's, like, really old."

She punched Tony in the shoulder.

"Real story? I'm happy you found someone. I mean, he's like a hundred years old, but if that doesn't bother you…" 

Amanda laughed.

"And anyone is better than that Storm guy."

"You're an idiot," Amanda said. "But I love you anyway, Tony Stark."

Tony smiled at her.

"So did you really sleep with him?"

"Uh…"

"I'll take that as a yes. You should probably get on some heavy duty birth control. I've read my dad's notes on the 'super-soldier serum'. He didn't have much to go on, since it was Doctor Erskine's formula, but they don't know what exactly it enhanced."

Amanda stared at him, open-mouthed.

"What?" Tony asked. "Was it bad? You can't judge a man on his first…"

"Shut up," Amanda said.

"Huh?"

"Leave the man alone," Amanda said. She lowered her voice. "It's absolutely none of your business, but Steve did just fine. Okay? He would be really embarrassed to know that you of all people were asking."

"Why me of all people?"

"Geez, Tony. You've been popular and rich and handsome your entire life. Also, extremely cocky."

"So?"

"Steve was still new to that before he was frozen. He knew how to be a soldier. Never got the luxury of settling down," Amanda said. "I just want him to have something normal with me. Well, as normal possible."

"You've really fallen for him," Tony said, his voice soft and serious.

"Yes, I love him," she said. "And he deserves to have someone he can depend on."

Steve had followed the voices down the hall, but had stopped at the corner. He knew what they were talking about. A rush of embarrassment _did _surge through him, but it was replaced with pride. It was kind of incredible to have someone say these things about him.

"We should probably join my family. They'll start coming out here after us if we don't," Amanda said.

"Be grateful you have this family, even if they don't remember your birthday," Tony said. "Eventually you might want to tell them the truth about your job though."

Tony linked his arm through hers and they began to stroll down the hall toward the medical rooms.

"I think that will have to be a different family discussion."

"What did you tell your mom about being on the news when Cap had to rescue you from the Hulk?" 

"You know, I don't even remember," Amanda said.

The two of them continued down the hall, towards Amanda's family.

Steve hung back. Her family didn't know what she did? He knew that SHIELD was secretive, but did her entire family think she was a doctor somewhere in New York? How was she going to explain what happened to Peggy?

He started to follow them down the hall, but someone calling his name stopped him.

"Rogers! Hey, Captain?" Natasha called.

Steve turned around and looked at the red head curiously.

"Yes, Agent Romanoff?" he said.

Natasha closed the space between them and smiled.

"What are you up to?" she asked. "Would you like to have breakfast with Clint and I?" she finished.

Steve turned his head, to watch Tony and Amanda walk down hall the rest of the way and turn a corner. Then his head came back to Natasha's smiling face.

"I was going to…"

"You should probably hold off on that one, Cap," Natasha said. "They don't exactly know what Amanda's up to here in New York."

"But how are they going to explain the coma that Peggy is in? She was kidnapped and rescued from a burning building," Steve said.

"That's nice that you're worried about it, but they have it covered. Come get some breakfast," Nat said. "You can meet the Carter family later. Once Amanda has had a chance to speak to them first."

Natasha put her arm through Steve's and he reluctantly left with her to go get breakfast.

Inside the hospital room, everyone was taking their turn speaking to the comatose woman in the hospital bed.

"She looks so frail."

"She's almost 100 years old," one of Amanda's nieces said.

"Be careful who you call old, dear," Amanda's great-grandmother said.

"When should she wake up?" Amanda's mother asked.

Amanda sighed and picked up the chart at the foot of the bed.

"Her vitals are stabilizing. We'd been having trouble with her blood pressure. All of her organs are working properly, but we just can't get her to wake up. There's no brain swelling and as far as we can tell she didn't suffer from a stroke or a heart attack. It's a medical anomaly."

Her entire family eyed her suspiciously. It was almost like they knew she was lying about the circumstances.

"It was just a freak accident?" her father asked.

Amanda nodded.

"It had nothing to do with the reappearance of Captain America?" her grandmother asked.

Amanda and Tony both cocked their heads, pretending to not know what was going on.

"Why would this have anything to do with Captain America?" Amanda asked.

Sharon Carter folded her arms across her chest and stood her ground. "She came up here because of Captain America. Margaret Carter was in perfect health before this little trip. Now, you tell us the truth, young lady!"

Before Amanda could answer, a huge explosion rocked the building.

"JARVIS!" Tony yelled. "What the hell was that?!"

"It appears that we're under attack. The south wall of the house is being firebombed."

"Stay here!" Amanda shouted as both she and Tony ran from the hospital room.

To Be Continuted…

… … … … …

A/N: Okay! Random turn of events? Yes. But it's a means to an end, I promise!

Let me know what's on your mind!

Thanks everyone!


	28. Chapter 27

Into the New World

Chapter 27

The whole building shook with the force of the explosion. Hawkeye dropped his plate to keep Natasha from falling over.

Steve Rogers braced himself against the wall with one arm.

"What the hell was that?" Steve asked.

Alarms of all kinds started going off.

"SHIELD agents and Avengers team members, we are under attack," Fury said over the blaring of the alarms.

As if they weren't already on edge with the alarms, Fury's announcement caused everyone in the immediate kitchen area to start moving.

Rushing for weapons, Steve, Natasha and Hawkeye found Bruce Banner.

He was wringing his hands nervously, his glasses sideways on his face.

"Have you seen Amanda or Stark?" Natasha asked.

He shook his head. The alarms and the surprise of the explosion was playing havoc with his nerves. A thin sheen of sweat was visible on the man's forehead; Banner was only seconds away from losing his cool once again.

"Doctor Banner," Steve said calmly. The Captain was going to try to keep Banner from losing it. The man before him turned his head in Steve's direction, but it was too late.

The doctor's skin turned green and his clothes began to rip as he grew larger and larger. There would be no stopping him now.

"Move!" Hawkeye yelled.

"Shit!" Natasha yelled. "Go, go, go!"

The Hulk roared, baring his arms and large green chest. He was shaking in his anger, unable to control it.

"You need to get him to focus his anger on the attackers," Steve shouted at Hawkeye.

Everyone around them ran, leaving a wide perimeter around the raging Hulk.

"Where are you going?" Hawkeye yelled back at Steve; he was running in the opposite direction as the others.

"I have to find Amanda. Her family is here, too," Steve said.

"We're going to head up to figure out who's attacking the house. Meet us up there once you get Manda," Natasha said.

"We'll try to take the good doctor with us," Hawkeye replied dryly. "But I'm not making any promises."

… … … … …

Downstairs, Amanda and Tony were rushing down the hallway, away from Amanda's family that was in the room with Peggy Carter. So far, they were doing as they were told and were staying put in the room with her.

"JARVIS!" Tony yelled. "Close the emergency doors to the medical facility!"

Tony and Amanda were running as the alarms were blaring in their end of the house.

Behind them, Amanda could hear the large security doors coming down from the ceilings.

"You just happened to build those?" Amanda asked.

Tony shrugged as they continued to run. "They're going to keep your family safe, so I wouldn't question it, MandyAnn. We can discuss their necessity later, when my house isn't on fire."

Amanda understood why he was annoyed.

She and Tony were about to dash up the stairs when they heard a muffled call.

"What was that?" Tony asked.

Amanda shook her head. "I don't know."

"Aunt Mandy!" the voice half-called and half-sobbed.

Amanda turned. Her oldest niece was cowering in the corner.

"Ashley?" Amanda asked, almost speechless that this was happening. "Why aren't you with the rest of the family?"

"My mom sent me out here for making rude comments," the girl cried. "What's happening?"

"A bit of an emergency, honey," Amanda said, lying to the young girl. She didn't want to worry her and make her panic even more than she already was. "Tony, get JARVIS to open the fire doors again. Ash needs to be in there."

"Doctor Carter, I unfortunately cannot do that until the all-clear is sounded," JARVIS announced. "And judging by the last blast to the southern wall, I would say that it's going to be a while before I am able to complete that task."

"What?" Amanda yelled. "You have to. Override it, Tony!"

"I can't override it," Tony said. "It's a fail-safe."

"You programmed the system, Tony," Amanda said back to him.

Tony shrugged at her.

"I can't just leave her down here. We have to take her with us," Amanda said.

"Where are we going? Are they evacuating the house?" Ashley asked. "Why is everyone else staying down here?"

"Listen, Ash, this is a really big deal. You need to do_ every single thing_ I tell you. If you don't, I can't keep you safe. You do everything, you hear me?" Amanda said into the girl's face.

Amanda knew this girl was barely fifteen years old and this was going to be a lot to handle, but it was vital that she followed all instructions. Amanda didn't know what they were going to be running into, but she had a sinking feeling that it was Sin and Crossbones making another appearance.

Ashley nodded her head furiously. She still looked like she was going to cry again; her lip quivered with anxiety, but she Ashley tried to look as assertive as possible. She wasn't sure why her aunt, a doctor, was talking like this, but she felt better knowing that they were going with Iron Man. Ashley also couldn't figure out why someone would want to blow up part of Iron Man's house.

"Where are we going?" Ashley asked.

"Out to the south wall," Amanda said.

"Isn't that where they started bombing?" Ashley asked.

"Yes," Amanda said. "Come on."

She grabbed the teenager by the upper arm and started pulling her up the stairs. Amanda needed to keep the girl moving; it was apparent that the teenager had picked 'flight' instead of 'fight' in this particular situation.

The three of them started running for Tony's lab. He needed his suit.

Once they reached the room, Ashley stared at the suits in wonder. "You made all of these?"

"Yes, but we don't have time for a tour right now," Tony said.

He stepped into the right spot and the suit started to build itself around him. Mere seconds later, he was Iron Man.

"I'm going to check out the damage. See you out there, Carter," Iron Man said before firing up the jets and zooming straight through the glass of the lab's wall.

"Aren't you just a doctor? What are you going to do?" Ashley asked.

"I'm not just a doctor, Ash. I'll tell you about this later," Amanda replied. "I gotta change really quickly."

Amanda emerged a minute later in one of the suits that Tony had created for her.

"You look hot," Ashley said, looking her aunt over. "Grandma's going to be mad at you."

Amanda laughed. "Doesn't matter; just remember to do what I tell you."

She pulled on Ashley's hand and they ran from the room.

… … … … …

"Where is she?" Steve said out loud.

He'd been through the whole house and still hadn't caught up with her.

A rumbling sound caught his attention and something fast came blasting through a wall.

Iron Man.

Amanda couldn't be that far behind.

Steve continued in the direction that Tony Stark had just come from and seconds later almost ran full on into Amanda.

He'd taken a minute to put his suit on; he wasn't sure what kind of battle they were going into, so he thought having the extra protection his suit allowed would be a good idea. His shield was hooked over his shoulders.

"Steve!" Amanda said.

Steve clutched her to him, to keep her from falling after their impact, but also in relief of finding her. It didn't click immediately that there was someone else with her.

"You're all right?" Steve asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Okay, we need to join the other Avengers up at the blast site," Steve said.

"Well, that's slightly more complicated," Amanda said, pointing back at her niece.

The teenager was staring up at the captain with wide eyes. He was a good-looking man, not to mention terribly tall and broad-shouldered. And she instantly recognized him as Captain America. She was just learning about him and his part in World War II in her history class.

"Who is that?" Steve asked, confused. The young girl looked a little like Amanda; she had to be a relative of hers.

"My niece," Amanda said. "She got locked out of the emergency fire doors down by the medical facility."

"Well, then we're just going to have to improvise a bit more. I'm Steve," he said, trying his best to reassure her with a smile, despite the circumstances.

"Ashley," she said tentatively.

"Let's move," Steve said.

They took off running, Steve in the lead and Ashley bringing up the rear. She wasn't in any hurry to get to the source of all the explosions.

The entire south wing of Tony's house was destroyed as they approached it.

"Listen, find a corner, take cover," Amanda said.

"Is she going to be okay back there?" Steve said.

"Why did you bring her?" Natasha asked.

Nat and Hawkeye were in full gear by the time they were out there.

"I would have preferred to not bring her along," Amanda said. "It was a split-second decision."

SHIELD agents were firing at the offending army. Scanning the New York street that had become a battlefield, Natasha saw another red-headed woman smiling and laughing manically in the center of it all.

"Well, the question of who would be stupid enough to attack the house has been answered," Tony said, joining them. "Where's Banner?" he asked. "We could use him."

"They were still trying to get him to come this way," Hawkeye said.

"Where's Fury?" Amanda yelled.

"I think that's him with the bazooka," Natasha replied.

Natasha pointed back past Amanda, and Fury was aiming a giant bazooka at one of the large vehicles that the soldiers were riding in. He fired and with a tremendously loud boom, the tank exploded in a reign of fire and metal shrapnel. Fury smiled in pride and then moved to start firing another round. There were more tanks and more soldiers.

The HYDRA soldiers that Synthea Schmitt and Crossbones had bought were more vicious than the last ones they'd fought. They were definitely more of what Steve had been used to. They were definitely stronger than the last ones they'd all fought; they weren't going to give up easily.

"You all look like you could use some help," Bucky said, running out with the Hulk hot on his heels.

The protective covering that he'd had on his robotic arm was missing; the metal reflected the flames of the fires that burned all around them. Bucky picked up a soldier coming at him by the throat and tossed him easily. The soldier went flying and crashed into three more soldiers behind him.

The Hulk also wasted no time. He was picking HYDRA soldiers up and tossing them like ragdolls. They yelled and screamed as they were thrown this way and that. The destruction that the Hulk was causing was actually going to help them, despite the fact that it looked like the house was rapidly getting to be classified is in disrepair.

HYDRA was still using the cube to power their weapons. Steve was using his shield to block the blue blasts and reflect them back at the shooters. He saw that Amanda was holding back. She was trying to keep an eye on her niece and keep the soldiers from getting anywhere near her. So far she was succeeding by firing her own weapon at them, but who knows how long that was going to last.

However, there were some soldiers that were there weren't backing away from Amanda. They were not afraid of the flimsy gun she was holding and firing and the soldiers started advancing on her and the teenager.

Amanda had a gun and took down one of the men after her, but three more were on her. She kicked out, her leg impossibly high and fast, and connected with the first one's head.

She continued to fight the other two men while the others fought their own opponents. Her punches were fast and furious as Amanda felled the two that were after her and turned to check on Ashley.

"Are you still okay?" she asked. "Make sure you stay down."

Ashley nodded. She couldn't believe her aunt was doing this. Up until ten minutes ago, she thought that her aunt was just a nerdy doctor; her other nieces and nephews weren't going to believe this. She felt safe with these people around her, despite the destruction that was actually occurring.

Amanda spun back around to join the rest of the Avengers fighting. Hawkeye was firing arrow after arrow and Black Widow was taking soldier after soldier out with her blasters on her wrists. Thor was swinging the hammer, taking three and four soldiers out at a time. They just seemed to keep coming, urged on by Crossbones.

Sufficiently distracted, Sin took her opportunity and snuck past Amanda and got to Ashley.

She pressed the barrel of the gun to the girl's head while Ashley screamed.

Amanda turned, distracted by the girl's cry and was knocked down by the soldier she'd been locked in another fight with.

"Ashley," she yelled as the soldier aimed his blaster at Amanda in her vulnerable state.

He fired the blaster but the shot missed, Steve's shield flew past her, just in time.

The shield connected with its intended target and Cap knocked out the man in front of him that he was fighting and turned back to Amanda.

"Are you okay?" he said, helping her up.

"Yes, thank you," Amanda said, grasping his forearm. "But Sin's got Ashley," she said.

They both turned in the direction of the cackling woman. She had a death grip on Ashley and Steve saw all the color in Ashley's face draining away. The girl looked like she was going to pass out.

"Let her go!" Amanda said. "She has absolutely nothing to do with this."

"I don't think so," Sin shouted. "You ruined my plan before, Carter; I'm going to get my revenge now."

"Schmitt, she's just a kid," Steve tried. He was trying to remain calm; for both Ashley and Amanda. "Just let her go; fight us."

"If your little girlfriend over there would have died like she was supposed to, we wouldn't be at this point. The old lady hasn't even died yet," Sin said. "I'm not going to let you all ruin yet another plan of mine."

"That's my aunt you're calling an old lady," Amanda said, trying to advance on Sin and her niece, her gun leveled at Sin's head.

"Oh, no, no, no," Sin laughed. "She's going to die if you take one more step."

Amanda stopped, gun still trained on the redhead.

"Your fight is with me, not Ashley," Amanda said. "Let's have a fair fight."

"Fine," Sin sneered. She pushed the teen away and aimed her laser blaster at Amanda instead. They were probably only ten feet from one another. One shot at that distance would kill Amanda.

Sin fired in Amanda's direction and she braced herself for the impact.

Steve came to her aid just in time again. He came running, shield first and blocked most of the blast. What missed the shield connected with Steve's side. Steve collapsed on the ground, holding his side. It was a bloody mess, but at least he was still currently alive.

Amanda had had it. Sin was still recovering from having the blast come back at her. She was unprepared when Amanda charged the evil woman before her and kicked the blaster from her hands. Amanda had brought down the woman only a minute later, SHIELD agents rushing in to take her into custody.

The Hulk and Hawkeye had brought Crossbones down and agents were putting the electro-cuffs on him. The remaining soldiers were being taken down by the rest of the Avengers.

Kneeling next to Steve, Amanda put her hands to his bleeding side. The blast had done a lot of damage.

"Steve," Amanda said. "Stay with me," she said trying to get him to focus on her. His eyes met hers.

"I'll be all right," he said, before slowly rising to his feet.

"We need to get this attended to," Amanda said, trying to pull him away from the battle scene.

He smiled. "It's just a scratch. Go check on Ashley."

The teenager was in a ball on the floor, shaking now. After all, she'd just had a gun to her head.

Amanda's white suit was covered in blood and dirt and ash.

"Ashley, come here," Amanda said.

Ashley didn't move.

Amanda sighed and sat down next to her niece.

"I know," Amanda said. "It's a lot to take in."

"How long have you been doing this?" Ashley asked. "Are you really a doctor? Or is that just a lie?"

"No, I'm really a doctor, too," Amanda said.

Tony landed next to them and his mask slid back.

"Is she all right?" he asked.

"It was _so_ cool to watch you blast that guy," Ashley replied, starting to get her teenage confidence back.

Tony looked at Amanda. "Guess she's okay," he said.

"Are the fire doors opened up?" Amanda asked. "I should probably get her back to her mother."

"I'll take her down; you get Cap cleaned up," Tony said. "He looks a little worse for wear."

They looked over at Steve, who was being supported by Thor. He gave them a weak smile, but they both knew he was in a lot of pain.

"I should probably take her down to my family."

"I'll go with Tony," Ashley said. "I don't know if I want to be there when you have to explain why you're covered in blood."

"She's got a point," Tony replied. "Let's go."

"Can we fly?" Ashley asked. 

"No," Tony replied.

Ashley looked disappointed, but started to follow behind Tony. Tony also looked disappointed, but Amanda figured it had to be because his house was destroyed.

Tony started to walk, the teenager asking a million questions as they went. Tony shot one final look back at Amanda and she just shrugged at her before walking with Ashley out of the burning space.

She didn't know what to say anymore.

SHIELD agents were all over getting the fires put out and assisting their wounded as well as making sure the blockade they had put up to keep the onlookers out wasn't being breached. Fury was escorting some agents and Sin and Crossbones to SHIELD vehicles. They were on their way to a maximum security prison to wait whatever fate the board decided to bestow on them.

Amanda walked over to Steve and Thor.

"Are you okay to walk?" she asked. "We can get a gurney or a wheelchair or something…" she rambled. Steve was looking down at her, but she wasn't looking back at him. Amanda was inspecting the wound in his side.

"Yes, I can walk," Steve said.

Amanda held herself ready to take the brunt of Steve's weight as he put his arm around her. Thor nodded at the two of them and they followed in the same direction that Tony and Ashley had left in.

They said nothing for the entire trip back downstairs.

The medical facility's emergency fire doors had been re-opened. Doctors and nurses employed by Tony were rushing in and out, only beginning to deal with the injuries sustained to the SHIELD team members.

Amanda and Steve found an open exam room and she helped him sit down on the exam table before turning around to rifle through the cabinets hanging on the wall.

Steve watched her for a second before deciding that taking off the remainder of the top half of his uniform would be helpful. The wound in his side hurt like hell, but if he hadn't done it, Amanda would be dead. The blast was unavoidable and he'd do it again in a heartbeat to protect her.

Amanda was operating on sheer adrenaline and she realized she was probably in shock. But she was going to do her damned best to keep herself steady. Steve needed to be fixed up and she was going to do it. After all, this was the man she'd fallen in love with.

She turned around, finding the suture kit she needed and looked at the shirtless man on the exam table. She said nothing, just opened up the kit. It was fine until a telltale tear rolled down her cheek and landed on Steve's abdomen.

"Hey," Steve said softly. "It's okay. I'm okay. You protected Ashley and she's okay. You…"

"I'm…thank you. You saved me and now you're hurt," she said.

"Put that down and come here," he said, motioning towards him.

Amanda put down the suture tools and walked to the other side of Steve. He wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. She buried her face into Steve's bare chest and neck.

"It's over now," he said.

Steve held onto her for a moment while her tears stopped.

"Okay, let's get you fixed up, Captain," Amanda said, trying to make her voice calm and collected. She wasn't feeling calm and collected, but she was going to try.

Amanda was efficient at the sutures and quickly had Steve's side closed back up. Steve was pleased that these advances in medical science had taken place. The blasts from the HYDRA weapons weren't able to be healed as easily 70 years ago.

"What do we do now?" Amanda asked.

Steve grinned. "Well, you should first go tell your family the truth and make sure everyone is okay. Then maybe we should try a date."

"A date?" Amanda asked.

"I've never been on a real one," Steve said. "Sounds like something I would want to try with you."

Amanda sighed. This was definitely the man for her.

"I'll go with you to talk to your parents," Steve said, hoping that would make her less uneasy about telling them the truth.

"They aren't going to be happy," Amanda said. "I've been lying to them about this for a long time."

"I think they'll get over it," Steve said, sliding off of the exam table.

He felt remarkably good considering the size of the hole that had been in his side only moments ago.

"You don't have to do that," Amanda said. "Actually, you do need to stay and rest. Doctor's orders."

Steve laughed. When he decided he was going to do something, nothing stopped him.

"I should meet the rest of your family anyway," Steve said, pulling what was left of the top part of his uniform back on. "Your niece seemed to recognize me."

"She told me that she's studying you in her history class," Amanda said, making sure Steve was steady on his feet.

Steve cocked his head to the side. "I'm part of a history book? I'm just a kid from Brooklyn," he said as they walked into the hall.

"You're still calling yourself a kid?" Tony asked, still in his Iron Man suit. "Aren't you almost a hundred?"

Steve shrugged. "I guess."

"She's probably hoping that once she's old enough, she can date you," Amanda said. As much as she realized she loved the man standing next to her in the hall. There would only be so much time that they would have together. Every day she would continue to grow older, and Steve probably wouldn't.

"Don't worry, I'm working on something for you, honey," Tony whispered in her ear. "Your family is waiting for you."

Amanda closed her eyes and sighed. She would almost rather be fighting Sin again than having to tell her family the truth about her life.

"Go get 'em, tiger," Tony said, trying to be encouraging.

She stuck her tongue out at him and marched forward.

"Good work out there, Captain," Tony said.

"I'm sorry about your house," Steve replied.

Tony shook his head inside his helmet. "It doesn't matter; it's just a house. Besides, I've got plans to build a tower like you've never seen before."

Steve smiled again. He was beginning to like Stark. He was just like his father and it felt a little more like home now to Steve.

"I should go with her," Steve said.

"Probably," Tony said. "Keep her from maiming and injuring her various family members."

Tony started to walk back towards the stairs while Steve continued to Peggy's hospital room. Amanda was just outside the door as he walked up.

"What did I miss?"

"Nothing," Amanda said. "I can't go in there."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"That isn't a good enough answer," he replied. He reached around her and opened the door.

All of the faces in the room turned in their direction, taking in the bloody and dirty messes that stood before them.

"Hi everyone," Amanda said sheepishly. "Is everyone okay?"

No one said anything.

"Um, this is Captain Steve Rogers," Amanda said.

"Captain America?" one of her younger nephews asked as he rushed forward towards Steve.

"Yes," Steve said, slowly bending down to look the kid in the eye. It was painful, but he did it anyway.

"I'm Steve, what's your name?" he asked the child.

"I'm Steve, too!" the kid replied.

Cap ruffled the kid's hair.

"Can I see your shield?" he asked.

"I left it back in another exam room, but I'll show it to you later, okay?" he said.

"Sure!"

"Are you going to explain what all this was about?" Sharon asked, looking at her mess of a daughter.

Steve stood back up and put his hand on Amanda's back, urging her to speak.

"Um, well, everyone, I work for an organization called SHIELD…" she started. It was going to be a long afternoon.

The End

… … … … …

A/N: Okay, so that was a very, _very_ long chapter. What's on your mind now that I've typed the words _the end_? Please let me know.

(PS. Should I work on a sequel with Cap and Amanda? Or just leave this alone?)

Thank you to everyone who has read this story. It's been _so _much fun to write. And I appreciate the following that it's received.


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